The rise-and rise of the Shepard
by StrifeMillions
Summary: Elia Albarn Shepard has been shaped by the events in her life to a nihilistic, cynical, and bitter force of nature, who laughs at the notion of heroism. Supposedly a spacer, she rises to fame and notoreity with her propensity to fight insurmountable odds and win. This is her story. FemShep x Kasumi, Garrus x Tali, Liara x Miranda
1. Intro Elia - Part 1

This is essentially a series of stories on my FemShep, Elia Albarn. Her background is one I took the liberty of thinking up on my own, and will be touched on as this series comes along.

This is an introduction to my FemShep. I wanted to some part of it from a first person perspective, introducing her early life, her general outlook, principles and so on. So, the first part is written from Shepard's POV.

Also, I moved the 'Saving Archangel' story back to accommodate this.

-Part 1-

My name is Elia Albarn Shepard. Parents happened to be big fans of some boy band from Britain in the early 2000s, and they decided that they'd saddle me with an annoying middle name. Can't complain overmuch about my first name, though. I was born on a frigate in the middle of an attack. Mum was the XO aboard the SSV Panama, Dad was the Flight Lieutenant. I was three weeks early, probably what caused the error in judgment. Pirates, whom I later learnt were a rogue faction of the Blue Suns mercenary band, attacked our ship over the planet Corang in the Verr system of the Hawking Eta Cluster. Probably wanted the vast amounts of eezo we happened to be carrying back to Arcturus for study. Humanity still hadn't truly understood biotic ability in their species. Apparently believed bringing a few tonnes of eezo for study in one of their most advanced labs would provide some answers.

On to my birth. In my opinion, one of the reasons I turned out such a mutant was the medic deciding to deliver me near the drive core, adjacent to the eezo stores aboard the ship. Dr. Ursula Thurston was her name, and her med-bay happened to have been blown up by the enterprising pirates. My mother told me she perched upon the table of the chief engineer, with only her sister, my aunt, Tamara and the good doctor in attendance. Aunt Tamara had been there presumably to shoot down any intruders who made it through. We were close enough to the escape pods to make a quick exit if required. Dad was doing some crazy maneuvering to try and get away. Three minutes after I was born and cried, the evac order came.

Aunt Tamara carried my mother, completely exhausted from the effort of popping me out, and Dr. Ursula carried me to the nearest escape pod. Or, so I understand, from the story I pieced together interrogating the three other major players in the delicate operation that was the birth of Elia Albarn Shepard.

Apparently, most of the crew, including my father survived the attack, and survived until the Systems Alliance sent over an evac team to take us to the nearest facility. In the aftermath of the incident, my mother, Commander Hannah Mary Aldin-Shepard, and my father, Flight Lieutenant Donald Jason Shepard were posted to different ships. Mother took command of the SSV Arcadium while Dad took the helm of the SSV Bonaparte. Their daughter was rotated through both these ships growing up. A life that went on this way until she was three. Early on, brain scans showed abnormalities. Attributed to my exposure to eezo at the time of birth. Also, brain activity indicated that I would be a genius.

When I was three and on my father's ship, it was attacked (again) by a pirate frigate commandeered by one Aleena D'Envers, a retired asari commando huntress. The evacuation order went out, but I was comfortably asleep in the closet of the CO's cabin. (The CO at the time was Captain Ralph Sommers-a big burly Irishman with twinkling blue eyes. I heard later that he died in the attack, along with twenty five others, including my father)  
The ship's engine was still functional, and since no damage had been done to the area of the ship I was on, it was still capable of sustaining life when the mercs came onboard to collect their loot. As such, I was still alive, and very diligently putting together a model of the asari dreadnought, 'The Destiny Ascension' in the CO's cabin when Aleena found me. Which made me part of the loot, I suppose.

She later told me that I looked at her in mild surprise and showed her the completed model. She decided that she'd take me along on her ship until she decided what to do about me. She had a crew of about twenty, a mixture of different races. There were the usual-salarians, turians, krogan and asari. There were also two quarians-one her helmsman, and the other her engineering specialist (predictably). There was also a female elcor on board (I later found out that she was their medic), and surprisingly, four humans, two twenty-something females, and a pair of male twins about two years older than me. They decided to keep me on the ship to provide company for the twins, Jake and Martin. The Systems Alliance officially declared me dead, in addition my father and the 25 others who'd died on the SSV Bonaparte. Ironically, it was not to be the last time it was to happen in my life. It was probably the longest I'd stay dead in the records, however.

Life aboard Aleena's ship, the 'Kaitlyn', was interesting. I learnt how to control my biotics with Aleena and Parr, her second-in-command, one of a dying breed, a krogan battlemaster. They outfitted me with implants they got off the black-market. Turians and humans and to a lesser extent, salarians and quarians all needed them to gain control over their biotic ability. I later found out that the implants they put into me were turian military-grade, not that much different from the L2s developed by the Alliance. They were supposed to cause adverse reactions in humans (migraines, nerve damage, and several other nasty side-effects). But, I had no such issues.

I also had an aptitude for tech, and before long, had learnt as much as I could about electronics, mechanics, computers and other related stuff from Lea, the ship's quarian engineer. By the time I was twelve, I was probably more skilled than her.

Natalya and Irene, the humans aboard the ship were two of the galaxy's best known thieves and saboteurs. They showed me how to pick locks, hack systems, and many other rather illegal things besides. The twins grew up along with me, becoming useful in their own way. They both liked guns, and learnt all they could about different weapons, how to use them and so on. I did a bit of that too, when I wasn't busy taking things apart and putting them together, picking locks or shooting down targets with my biotics.

Eventually, they started taking us out on their missions, raiding mercenary camps, or military outposts. Aleena had many rules, one of the foremost being that we never attacked the defenseless. You'd never find our ship raiding a civilian colony. Many times, we even took out slaver camps because Aleena was against the notion of slavery. I appreciated where she was coming from. (I was also extremely well-read. I had an eidetic memory. I could easily pirate copyrighted material off the extranet, and spent many happy hours reading the philosophies of different cultures, fictional works of the greatest exponents of each species- I had a particular fondness for human dark fantasy novels)

There are many interesting stories I could tell about my time aboard the Kaitlyn, but these are for another time. Suffice it to say that much of my development as a person was down to the influence of Kaitlyn's crew, in particular, its captain, Aleena. She was by no means a saint, or a paragon of virtue. She believed that the only person you needed to live with at the end of the day is yourself. She was consequentialist, she believed that the measure of an individual is determined by the consequences of their actions, and not the action itself. The action is something you come to terms with on your own.

When I was sixteen, Aleena decided to retire from her life of piracy, for reasons that became clear to me later. She dropped her crew at different destinations, depending on where they wanted to go. Most of the crew had been with Aleena twenty years or more, and were understandably distressed at having to leave. Aleena was firm, however. She would retire, and we all had to find our own path.

The twins, Natalya, Irene and I, decided to stick together and we zoned in on a human farming colony called Mindoir for our drop. The night before I left, Aleena sat me down in her cabin and initiated a mind-meld with me. It was the first of many mind-melds I was to have in my life, though almost all the subsequent ones were with one particular asari. It was the ultimate show of trust, of faith, and in this case, she believed, a farewell. I was the daughter she never had, and she was sad to see me leave. I promised her that we would meet again, no matter what. She smiled through her tears, and said she'd look forward to it.

The five of us landed on Mindoir and managed to find work at a private security firm. Course, Natalya, Irene and I had to use false identities, Natalya and Irene because they were wanted criminals, and me because I was supposed to be dead. The twins never had an identity they could call their own, having been found by Dr. Tyne (the elcor doctor on Aleena's crew-she had great knowledge of anatomy and medicine, but being an elcor, wasn't the most adept surgeon. Those duties fell to the other crew members, most often, me, once I was old enough) on the Citadel. It was a story never told to me. So, we registered as a family of five, Natalya became my mother, and Irene became the twins' mother. Natalya and Irene were a married couple (at my prodding, I may add. It was probably the only part of all this stuff that was actually genuine-the two of them loved each other and needed a genius like me to realize it for them).

It was a peaceful enough existence for two months. Then, the slaver raid on Mindoir. A ring composed mainly of batarians. They inflicted monstrosities on the innocents at the colony. The five of us, well-armed, skilled former pirates that we were, saved as many as we could, holing up in the large basement of a school. We shot whoever came nearby, remained vigilant, regularly scouted for more survivors, basically did all we could to save as many as possible. I suppose each of us felt like we owed it to the universe to defend the weak. We saved about sixty. It was frustrating, but there wasn't much else we could do. The slavers slaughtered those that wouldn't be useful, and cranially implanted those who would. I was mildly desensitized to such horrors, but they created an impact. Slaving was wrong…

The SSV Einstein, a cruiser which happened to be passing the area, responded to the distress calls from the colony. They couldn't stop the batarians, but they did evacuate us and several others. The five of us were considered important enough to a meet with the CO. Being well-armed helped. Saving one Commander Bardsley escalated the issue.

The five of us were ushered into the communications room of the SSV Einstein and made to sit down on (rather comfortable) chairs around the holographic projector. A QEC. The Captain joined us after a time. It is very difficult to surprise me. But, what happened was almost cosmic providence.

The CO of the SSV Einstein was Captain Hannah Shepard, my rather illustrious mother. She greeted us and asked us for our account of what happened. My four companions generally looked to me for leadership, despite the fact that I was the youngest. I looked over at Natalya nervously. She frowned, sensing something was wrong. I took out my omni-tool. Hands shaking I took out my father's locket and started playing one of the vids from it. It had a picture of my parents and I together, and an embedded memory chip with happy memories. Aleena had found it on my father's body and entrusted it to me when I turned thirteen. It was probably the only reminder of a life I was supposed to have lived.

I looked up at my mother. She was stunned. The vid played out-it showed me walking to my mother across a room, on unsteady baby legs. The video ended.

Mother had tears streaming down her face. "Er, I'm sorry. But, where did you get that? Did you find it in the wreckage of a ship? I lost my husband and my daughter thirteen years ago….."

I shifted my feet uncomfortably. "Yes, I'm aware of that. But, your daughter wasn't lost as permanently as your husband." I looked up. Emerald eyes met sapphire blue.

"You're her, aren't you? My El. You were alive all this time."

"I am biologically your daughter, yes. However, I don't believe I've turned out quite the way you'd have expected. It has been a while."

"I don't know what to say."

-Part 2-

Suddenly, the projector lit up. Admiral Hart, the CO of the largest fleet in the System's Alliance, the Fifth, and the de facto leader of the Alliance military appeared at the other end. He said, "Captain Shepard,….", and stopped when he realized something was wrong. He looked at a loss for words.

Hannah wiped her eyes and saluted him stiffly. "I apologize for this, Admiral. I have received some rather astonishing news."

"It is very hard to faze you, Hannah. Take your time. I can imagine the horrors you must have witnessed."

Hannah cleared her throat. "It isn't just that, Joe…. I found my daughter…. She's alive."

Admiral Hart reeled backwards. "Er, Hannah. Did you say your daughter's alive? Elia?"

"Yes…" Hannah motioned Elia to come beside her. Elia complied and stood next to her mother.

She didn't know what to say. She decided to go with levity. "Umm…. Nice day we're having, huh? Slavers attack a colony and people come back from the dead."

"Are you really Hannah's daughter?", demanded the Admiral. He looked suspiciously at Elia.

"Yes, sir. You can test it out if you want. Though, if you stop to think about it, it'd be remarkably foolish to lie with such a story. Saying I'm somebody who supposedly passed away thirteen years ago isn't something you do for kicks."

"I suppose. Very well. Captain, the SSV Trafalgar is about two hours away from your position. Please board the freighter with your five companions and come ASAP to Arcturus Station. I fear this debriefing is not something to carry out over quantum entanglement."

Hannah nodded weakly.

Hart severed the link. Hannah pulled a chair and sat down. Elia drew up another and sat down next to her. Elia's companions sat on their own chairs, staring off into space. Silence prevailed for what seemed an eternity.

Presently, Natalya came out of her reverie. "So, er… the four of us better make our way out huh? I'm sure you two have a lot to catch up on." The four left the room.

Finally, Hannah spoke up. "I'm sorry. This is rather overwhelming."

Elia shrugged, and fished out a packet of cigarettes. She lit one and offered one to her mother. Her mother accepted, and she lit hers too. She sat back and took a long drag, and exhaled slowly.

"Yes. I could probably have gone away without doing what I did, and you would have been none the wiser. I don't know why I did it. It was an irrational impulse."

Elia paused for a bit, took another drag on her cigarette and then went on. "Maybe it's so I can do something else. I've been in a merc group almost all my life. I have no formal education, though I'm probably better read than most. The skills I have are good for only one thing-destruction. I create chaos. The galaxy is a place full of injustice. Constructive solutions take time."

Hannah considered her daughter for a moment. "I don't really know you, but the Commander is difficult to please. He was impressed with what he saw. Finding out you were just workers at a security firm surprised him. He suspected there was more to it. A whole lot more." She paused, stubbed her cigarette on the ashtray and stood up. She began pacing around the room.

"We had an entire life planned out for you. And, then, I lost both you and Don. We both knew it could happen any time, especially considering our profession. But we wanted you to see the galaxy."

"If it's any consolation, I have seen a lot of the galaxy. Though, I'd scarcely believe it was in the way you expected."

"Early scans showed that you would progress to genius level intellect. Based on what I've seen so far, I'd have to say they were right. I also know that geniuses always have plans. So what do you intend to do now?"

Hannah stopped pacing. Elia looked up at her. "Why are you interested? I will come to your station and meet your Admiral with you. Beyond that, I do not know. Do you want to be a part of my life? You don't believe need to believe you owe me anything. I can look after myself."

"This is an outlandish situation. I honestly do not know what to feel. Happy, or betrayed, or sad, or sorrowful, or indifferent… I see you for the first time in thirteen years. I don't know you. But you are my daughter. The forces of the nature have made that an unbreakable, intimate bond."

"There is no right answer. There are options and those have consequences. You need to decide what you can live with."

Hannah considered it for a moment. "I want to try. I lost you for thirteen years. If you'll let me in."

Elia sighed. "I suppose I hoped that would happen."

Hannah laughed. "In some cultures, they believe that when you sigh, you lose a part of your happiness. Maybe I should be offended?"

"Like you said, I don't know what to feel either. I didn't expect to be transported right into the ship where you were CO. I recognized you from the holos on the locket, and suddenly, I couldn't just act like it wasn't important."

"Sometimes, the universe conspires to have certain events happen. A large number of beings call it destiny."

Elia took a final drag on her cigarette and stubbed it. "And those are people who would probably accept dei ex machina in entertainment devices as strokes of brilliance, even though the only thing it shows is the creator's incompetence."

"All life is imperfect. It makes it easier to believe in greater powers."

"Just because it's easy doesn't mean it's right."

Hannah started laughing. Elia looked at her in surprise. "You certainly don't pull your punches."

She held out her hand to her daughter. "Come on. Let's go to my cabin. There's a whole lot to catch up on and there's no time like the present to start."

"You got any booze? It tends to be a good ice-breaker."

Hannah raised an eyebrow. "You're sixteen, El! Which also reminds, when did you start smoking? It's not a good habit."

Elia shrugged. "Most alcoholic beverage establishments only prohibit the sale of liquor to humans under eighteen. You bought the liquor. Technically, you aren't breaking the law, and neither am I. As to when I started smoking, it was about a year ago, I do it occasionally to relieve stress. Natalya buys em for me, and the only ones I ever smoke are Omega Lights. I do a pack of forty a fortnight. Nothing overly worrying."

Hannah considered this. "You have a warped view of the world. Then again, most exceptionally gifted people do. But, we can't have more than two drinks. We still need to meet the most powerful man in the human military, after all."

"A fair caveat."

"Good. Let's go."

Mother and daughter walked hand in hand up to the cabin.

-0-


	2. Hate is better than Indifference

I always have a tendency to bash Alenko and Williams in my fics. Williams because I never liked her character much, her xenophobia and her bitchiness in ME3 in particular. Alenko, because if he survived Virmire, the events on Horizon show that he isn't really loyal to Shepard. And loyalty is the most important thing in friendship. He redeems himself somewhat in ME3, but my Shepard never really allows him to live it down.

Oh and I finished the Citadel DLC for the nth time, and I still firmly believe it should be a post-ending DLC. But I digress...

This chapter delves a bit into Shepard's past. I've made her this ambiguous, dark anti-heroine, possibly because I just got through 2 books in the Black Company series, and I just love Lady!

After starting this chapter, I actually modified the other chapters in this fic and reuploaded it for consistency. I have a feeling that this is gonna be a pretty long series of stories.

Disclaimer: Like I said, Elia Shepard is very different from the way Commander Shepard was written. She is not a hero, she isn't even all that likable, but she will save the galaxy….probably..

As always, criticism, ideas and praise much appreciated :)

Hope you enjoy it :)

I actually remembered to insert this disclaimer: Much as I may want to, I unfortunately do not own Mass Effect. Or I'd be filthy rich and all that. On the bright side, my FemShep is mine :D

-Hate is better than indifference-

Major Kaidan Alenko had heard the news from Admiral Steven Hackett. The finest warrior the Alliance had ever seen, possibly the greatest military operative in the known and unknown galaxy, was back on Earth, at Vancouver, no less. She was supposedly being held at an Alliance facility 'awaiting trial'. Hackett had also told him off-the-record that the trial was a sham, that Shepard moved wherever she pleased, and that the Alliance was just keeping up appearances. However, he sounded confident that Shepard would be at the facility over the weekend at the very least, and suggested that the Major take his chance to talk to her if he wanted.

Kaidan remembered the first time he'd met her.

_-0—Flashback 1—0-_

_Kaidan had been assigned to the SSV Normandy, the most advanced warship in the Alliance, and possibly the galaxy. Jointly built by the humans and turians, with some assistance from the asari, it was a mark of how far humanity had progressed in the galaxy. It was a huge honor for the Lieutenant Commander. The Captain of the ship was David Anderson, an Alliance legend. The medals he'd been awarded would probably weigh more than he did. He was a man every career Alliance marine aspired to- a universally respected soldier, a well-loved leader, a giant among men. Equally famous, or infamous, was his XO, Commander Elia Albarn Shepard. Her past was shrouded in mystery, though the official story stated that she was the daughter of Captain Hannah Shepard of the SSV Einstein. Her official records indicated a Spacer background, spending her life growing up on ships. Kaidan doubted the veracity of this information, however, as he had personally lived for a short time on one of the cruisers Shepard has supposedly been on at the same time. He was sure there were no girl children on board that vessel. Since she had joined the Alliance, Shepard had become legendary for her unparalleled skill in combat, her indiscipline, and her unconventional leadership style. She had almost single-handedly stopped a slaver raid on a colony in the Terminus systems, after six of the eight marines posted there had died, and the other survivor had been injured. She had then gone on to complete the N7 program in a paltry 67 days, less than a fifth of the average time. The N7s were the elite soldiers of the Alliance- only 33 had ever passed it, and Shepard had made it look laughably easy. Her next famous escapade had been the one to escalate her to her present status- Torfan. A 57 member unit under the command of Major Kyle, had gone in for a raid on a slaver base, containing 600 well armed Batarians in entrenched positions. Shepard had led a small unit of 9 to infiltrate and disable the heavy armaments in the base so that a cruiser could land to secure the hostages after the base was purged. Midway through the mission, Major Kyle's force, which formed the bulk of the unit found themselves caught in a room with a giant overload field. On asking Shepard's team for back-up, she had coldly declined, stating that it would be a waste- the men were dead anyway. Only five of Major Kyle's force remained outside the room, as they watched their comrades lose their shields, their weapons and any defense they might have had against their massacre at the hands of four gun turrets placed at strategic locations in the room. Despite that, Shepard led her small team through the facility, killing most of the slavers on the way, before freeing the prisoners. Seventy batarians surrendered themselves over to her. She led them to the very same room where the rest of their unit had died, and lined them up against the wall, ordering her own force to slaughter them where they stood. And so, the purge of the slaver base was complete, with most of the slaves captured alive. Shepard went AWOL for five months after that, the sixth time in her career that had happened. Despite that, she got promoted. Ever since she came back though, early in 2179, she had been under Anderson's command, seemingly content enough not to repeat the AWOL incidents for a time._

_From his understanding of the XO, she was a wild child, a loose cannon, a chaotic force of nature. An extremely dangerous one at that, one you'd rather have on your side than against. He made his way to the landing pad to wait for the shuttle which was supposed to pick him up. He was to meet four others there, including Shepard. He got there five minutes early, and found a woman standing there, leaning against the railing, holding a lit cigarette in one hand, and a beer can in the other. A bag lay a few feet in front of her. Her hair was red, streaked with purple. She wore it shoulder length, in a style reminiscent of Molly Millions from 'Neuromancer', the 20__th__ century seminal work in cyberpunk lore (Kaidan was a big fan of literature, especially cyberpunk and science fiction in the 20__th__ and 21__st__ centuries). Her eyes were a deep, piercing blue, her face looked like it had been sculpted-it was that elegant. She was rather tall, maybe even slightly taller than him (he stood at 175 cm, middling height for a human). She had an amazing figure, the kind supermodels killed for, her hoodie accentuating her curves. Beneath the hoodie she wore, Kaidan had no doubt she was exceptionally well built. As he walked up to her, he spotted an 'N7' insignia on her hoodie. When he got close enough, he smiled and said, "Hi, I'm Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. You here to wait for the shuttle to the Normandy too?"_

_The woman took a long drag from her cigarette, a gulp of her beer, and replied. "Yeah, I guess. The old man gave me directions. Both of us can't be wrong. Though, there were supposed to be more?"_

_Her voice was feminine, but it had an edge to it. Like she wasn't to be trifled with._

_"Yes, a total of five. Who is this old man who gave you directions?"_

_"David Anderson. Not sure about his middle name. I know it starts with an 'E'. Maybe need to ask him about it sometime."_

_"Er, who are you?"_

_"Oh yes, I suppose it is rude not give my name. My name's Shepard. Elia Albarn Shepard."_

_Kaidan said, "The legend herself. Pleased to meet you." It occurred to him that offering a handshake would be a logistical impossibility._

_"Hmm, not the reaction I have come to expect from Alliance soldiers."_

_"I'm sorry."_

_Shepard took a long final drag from her cigarette and stubbed it. She gulped down the last of her can of beer and crushed it, before throwing it neatly into a nearby trash can. She walked up to Alenko and offered a hand. "I'm guessing you didn't do this earlier because my hands were otherwise occupied. So, in reply to your greeting, the pleasure's mine." Kaidan shook it warmly._

_Shepard then moved back to collect her backpack. Presently, she said, "Look, you've been in the Alliance a long time. Thirteen years, if I'm not wrong. No doubt you've heard of me, and have some kind of opinion of me."_

_"I generally form my opinions on my own, hearsay and gossip is hardly the way to shape your views."_

_"An admirable approach to life. I've read your profile. It indicates that you're a model soldier. Which means you're professional and don't allow your opinion to cloud your judgment. That's a good thing on the battlefield, but here, you don't need to be that uptight."_

_Kaidan nodded. "I meant what I said, Commander." Then, he thought for a bit, and went on. "You don't seem to really respect the Alliance much."_

_"I don't. I'm indifferent to the higher purpose most marines believe it represents. To me, it's a steady stream of income, and an opportunity for combat every other week. Beyond that, I don't particularly like this life."_

_"But, according to your records, you're a spacer kid, mother's quite high up in the Alliance, dad was also part of it."_

_Shepard considered the Lieutenant for a while. "You know, I expected you to smell a rat. You were on one of those ships I supposedly lived on. I guess you caught on."_

_"Yes, actually. Here, though, my intent was just to fish for information if there was any to be had."_

_Shepard fished her pack of cigarettes out, and offered it to Kaidan. When he declined, she took one out and lit it. She took a drag from it and exhaled slowly. She said, "Yes, well, that is a long and complicated story, one not many people know. I might tell you one day, but that'll come a long way down the line. Suffice to say, you won't find anything even if you pry further."_

_"I didn't expect to find anything anyway. Anything related to you is classified."_

_"To a career military man like you, I guess it must be frustrating. An uncontrolled freak like me, who doesn't follow the rules, doesn't have a discipline record to speak of, and to top it all, has been in the military a shorter time, but still ranks higher than you."_

_"Rank is based on the qualities and talent of the individual, and their track record. The length of service is not the overriding factor. I can safely admit that I can't touch you when it comes to combat. Some of your exploits make my head dizzy just thinking of them. Moreover, better men than me decided to promote you. I have to agree with their judgment."_

_Elia laughed. "Model soldier all right."_

_Three other men appeared at the other end of the landing pad, spotted them, and made their way to where Kaidan and Shepard were standing. All of them were well-built, reasonably tall._

_They saluted and introduced themselves._

_"Corporal Jenkins, reporting for duty", said the one on the right, a sandy haired American._

_"Private Bradwell", said the one in the middle, an African-American, thought Kaidan, from his accent._

_"Corporal Goldstein", said the one on the left, sounded British._

_Kaidan saluted back. "Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko."_

_Shepard spoked. "Hey, Bradwell, you were asked to bring a package."_

_"Ah yes." Bradwell fished into his backpack and took out a white package._

_Shepard put her cigarette in her mouth and tore open the package to reveal a large can of beer. She opened it, took the cigarette out of her mouth, and took a long swig. "You do good work, Private. It's almost the perfect temperature too." She happily took another long swig. She then took a drag of her cigarette, before stating. "Oh yes, I'm Elia Shepard."_

_"Yes, ma'am, I believe you knew my brother", said Goldstein._

_"Possibly, was his name Reece?", asked Shepard._

_"Yes, ma'am."_

_"Too bad he was on Kyle's squad. Slavers massacred most of em. The good Major, no respect to him, was a fucking dumbass."_

_"Is that all you can say, ma'am?", asked Goldstein, his voice suddenly shaking with emotion._

_Shepard took another swig of her beer and a long drag from her cigarette, before replying, "Pretty much. He got FUBARed. Nothing I could do about it."_

_Kaidan was slightly surprised at Shepard's bluntness._

_"But, you had a squad of 9, you coulda gone and helped, saved atleast a few."_

_"And let the slavers keep their prisoners? I don't think so. The mission stood, I make no apologies for my call. If anything, my CO was at fault, and even he can be forgiven for how things went down."_

_"You lined up the prisoners and murdered them in cold blood."_

_"Yeah, I did. And I make no apologies for that either. They gassed an entire container of prisoners. Blood for blood."_

_Goldstein couldn't hold in his emotion any longer. "You're a monster", he screamed._

_Shepard just took a final drag from her cigarette and stubbed it calmly. "I've been called that before. Any new insight you want to share, Goldstein? Or do you wanna brawl, get it outta your system?"_

_Kaidan spoke up, "With all due respect, Commander, brawling will not solve a thing."_

_"Oh, won't it? Anyway, our Corporal here probably wouldn't wanna try. Monsters are difficult to beat, and I'm guessing he's seems like one of those pansies who sits on his armchair blowing red sand and thinking he knows military strategy."_

_"Why you bitch!", said Goldstein, dropping his bag and throwing a punch at Shepard. Shepard just dodged it without hesitation and brought her right leg up in a blinding kick that she placed on his stomach. Goldstein flew about two metres and landed on his back on the concrete floor of the landing pad. The three others looked dumbfounded at the scene that was unfolding. Shepard nonchalantly took another swig of her beer. Goldstein roared and threw a blast of his biotics at her. Shepard nonchalantly put a barrier up on her free hand and deflected it. "Now, that's cheating, Corporal. I guess I couldn't have expected better from a pansy like you though." She calmly took another swig of her beer. Goldstein gave a yell of rage and rushed at Shepard, a Talon in hand. Shepard waited for him to get close enough, just dodged him completely and in the same fluid motion, twisted her body and brought her right foot from the side in a graceful arc to connect with his side. Goldstein went flying almost five metres from the power of the kick. Shepard gracefully completed the arc and landed up facing away from her original position. She turned back, and took another swig of beer, before walking up to the unconscious form of Goldstein. Kaidan noticed that she hadn't spilt a drop of her drink. She commented, "A Talon now. He fights like a rabid dog, no honor or control. He can do well as a grunt on a battlefield if there are no other options. Beyond that, his combat ability is nothing to write home about. Old man, my advice is to take him off the roster, even if he could aim, he's still a useless fuck." Shepard finished her denouncement and took swig from her beer can._

_"Noted, Commander. Corporal Goldstein will be escorted to an Alliance Medical facility. After that, he will be disciplined and reassigned to ground duty on a remote colony somewhere."_

_Kaidan looked to his right to the source of the voice. About twenty metres away, he spotted the man himself. Captain David Anderson, in person. The man who commandeered the Normandy. He was surprised he hadn't noticed him. Even more surprised that Shepard had. He walked up to him, and saluted. "Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko reporting for duty, sir. It's an honor to be on your ship."_

_The other two men also walked up. "Corporal Roland Jenkins, sir."_

_"Private Jozy Bradwell, sir."_

_Anderson saluted back. "Captain David Anderson at your service, gentlemen. I'm your CO aboard the Normandy. It's a pleasure to meet you all." He looked over at Shepard, unsure about something. "Er, in case my XO hasn't introduced herself, that woman there is Commander Elia Shepard."_

_"Yo, old man. I didn't forget this time", she cried out, somewhat indignantly._

_"It never hurts to make sure, Shepard", said Anderson, in a conciliatory voice._

_"Yeah, yeah. Waste of energy and all that, but whatever." She thought for a minute. "You restocked the shuttle, right? The last time, there was a paltry 12-pack onboard. And three others on the shuttle. How's a girl supposed to occupy a fucking boring 10 hours on less than 10 cans of beer."_

_"Ha, I remember the last time well, Shepard. This time, I made sure there were half a dozen bottles of rum onboard. Some beer too. I hope that'll be enough."_

_"Fuckin' A, Cap. I'll even ignore the beer today. Well, apart from this can and the other one Bradwell's carrying."_

_Anderson permitted himself a fatherly smile. "I thought you'd be pleased."_

_"How about this goofball? We leave him here, or do we need to call someone to pick 'im up or something?"_

_"Already taken care of, Commander. I called an ambulance soon as he assaulted you. They'll take care of him._

_"Capital, old man. Now, what the fuck are we doing standing around here?"_

_"Yes, Commander." Anderson addressed everyone. "Men, let's proceed to the shuttle."_

_Kaidan picked up his bag and made his way to Anderson's side. Shepard crushed her beer can, and called out "Yo Bradwell. Where's the other package?"_

_Bradwell took out another white package and threw it over to Shepard. "Here, ma'am."_

_"Good goin', mate." Shepard tore open the package and produced another large can of beer. She opened it and took a long gulp._

_"Fucking hell, Bradwell. I think I'll let you be my beer carrier from now on."_

_Bradwell wasn't sure whether to consider this a compliment or an insult. Anderson helped him resolve the situation, by calling out, "It's a compliment, son. Just accept it."_

_"Er, ok. Thank you, ma'am", said Bradwell._

_Shepard picked up her bag and ran over to catch up with the rest._

_Anderson looked over at Kaidan to his right, and asked him, "I'm sure you were taken aback by my XO's antics."_

_Kaidan nodded, and said, "I'd be lying if I didn't say I was surprised, sir."_

_Anderson chuckled. "Yes, she's an interesting one. Even as capricious as she is, she'll do great things. Even greater than she's already done."_

_"A lot of people fear her more than anything else, sir."_

_"And they're right to do that. From the outside looking in, any person with half a brain would realize how dangerous she is. When you start working with her, that's when you realize that she transcends you in every way possible, that you could probably never hope to reach her. That's when you just leave it to her, trust her judgment, and watch as she makes a mockery of the nature of probability. But, you'll see soon enough."_

_"Where'd she learn to fight like that? She didn't even use her hands. On top of that, she didn't even spill a drop of her drink. That's just insane."_

_Anderson laughed heartily. "You'll have to ask her that yourself, son." He then grew serious. "Though I need to be more careful the next time- she has a lot of people with grudges against her, and not just about Torfan."_

_"Yeah, I guess. She needs to be careful."_

_Anderson glanced at Alenko. "Oh, I'm not worried about my dear XO. She can take care of herself. I'm worried about the men she sends to hospital. Each one of them deserved it; attacking her for what happened in a mission they weren't a part of it, out of some misguided sense of retribution- that just isn't acceptable. Let me tell you this though, Lieutenant, Corporal Goldstein got lucky. He'll be up and on his feet within a week."_

_Kaidan considered this piece of information in silence. Suddenly, somebody jumped on top of him. "So, the old man been boring you with stories about me?", asked Elia, playfully._

_Anderson smiled. "Just giving him the usual disclaimers and warnings, Commander."_

_"Yeah? Did you mention the part about how everyone needs to have a light on them in combat if they're with me?"_

_"Now, Commander, your team is meant to actually help you on your mission."_

_"They're being useful by giving me booze and lights when I need it. Lets me finish the mission faster so they can go home. Damn, how can you even think on the battlefield without stimulation?"_

_"Not everyone enjoys being piss-drunk in the middle of a battle, Commander. It tends to play with their co-ordination."_

_"It doesn't happen to me."_

_"Yes, Commander, I was referring to ordinary, sane mortals, with the minimum threshold of common sense."_

_"Are you questioning my sanity, old man?"_

_"Oh, I'd say that you're pretty insane if you didn't already do that on your own."_

_"That's a fucking loop, Anderson. That doesn't count."_

_Anderson just smiled. Kaidan watched the banter between XO and CO going back-and-forth, and wondered, "Just what the hell am I getting into?"_

_-0-_

_They were an hour into the ride on their corvette. Shepard had almost finished one of the bottles of dark rum- to Kaidan's amazement, she drank it neat from the bottle. Anderson had helped himself to his second beer can. The other three had helped themselves to a six pack of beer, of which one can remained unopened. Shepard lay on one of the benches in the shuttle, reading something on her datapad, and occasionally swigging her rum. Anderson had donned his glasses and was sitting at the only table on the shuttle, typing something on his own datapad. Kaidan, Roland and Jozy were enjoying some rounds of Skylian Five. Kaidan was doing okay, having won himself slightly more than 700 credits._

_Suddenly, one of their pilots (there were 2, owing to the length of the journey) called out from the cockpit, just as they were passing over Terra Nova, on their way to the mass relay. "Captain Anderson, an SOS from the Alliance Engineering facility on Terra Nova. They're under attack from merc forces, probably the Blue Suns. About 2 dozen mercs by their count. Defences are holding, but the guards are dead and the engineers don't have any great combat skill. Should we respond?"_

_Anderson turned to Shepard. "Well, Shepard, up for some action?"_

_Shepard put her datapad down and said, "Hell yeah, old man, lemme at em."_

_Anderson called, "Okay, Robert, we'll help them. Take us in."_

_"Understood, sir. ETA about fifteen minutes."_

_Ten minutes later, Anderson commented, "You better get ready, child."_

_Shepard sighed, took a final swig from her bottle of rum, and threw the bottle into the trash compactor. She stood up, took off her hoodie, revealing a black tank top underneath, and wore her chest piece over it. She then slipped off her tracks and put on her leg pieces. She put on her arm and shoulder guards, before finally taking a headpiece that resembled night vision goggles from old movies made back on Earth, and slipped it on. She took a look at her omni tool, and raised her shields. She then picked out her weapons - a Mantis sniper, a Tempest SMG, and a Scimitar Assault Shotgun. She also produced a short-sword, checked it over, and sheathed it. She opened the cooler and grabbed 2 beer cans and slipped them into a compartment right below her guns. She fished a cigarette and a lighter out from somewhere in her armor and lit it, taking a deep puff, and exhaling the smoke slowly. Kaidan snapped out of his reverie. "Er, aren't you taking anyone along?"_

_Shepard looked at him. "Why? You think I need to?"_

_"There are two dozen trained mercs out there."_

_"So?"_

_"You're going alone?"_

_"Yes."_

_Shepard seemed mildly surprised at this line of questioning. Kaidan was at a loss for words. Anderson appeared not to have noticed this exchange. Shepard then checked over her ammo, before opening the doors of the corvette and jumping out. Kaidan asked Anderson, "Sir, shouldn't someone go with her?"_

_Anderson looked up. "You wanna go, son?"_

_"Er, isn't it required?"_

_"Not particularly, in my opinion. You're free to suit up and go if you want, though. Just don't get yourself killed."_

_"But, she went alone."_

_"She took along her cigarettes, her lighter and some booze, right?"_

_"Umm, yes."_

_"Then she'll be fine."_

_Kaidan was amazed at Anderson's nonchalance. "But, sir…"_

_"Look, Lieutenant, go along if you want. Maybe you'll see why I'm not worried."_

_Kaidan quickly suited up, grabbed a Carnifex heavy pistol and a Vindicator battle rifle, before exiting the corvette. Anderson paused momentarily, muttered, "She strikes again… hope this one doesn't get too badly hurt", before returning to his work._

_Kaidan kept his Vindicator at the ready, and made his way quickly across a field, and into the courtyard of the facility. On the way, he heard the distinct sound of gunshots. He spotted the loading bay open, and went in. The sight he saw was pure unadulterated carnage. Atleast 20 dead bodies lay around different parts of the large well-lit room, all of them wearing the blue armor that marked them as belonging to the Blue Suns. He saw her walking up to a merc, a turian and blasting his face with her Scimitar. She had a lit cigarette in her mouth that she now took out with her free hand, exhaling slowly. He walked up to her. "Not many left, just the leader and three henchmen", she commented. Kaidan nodded. She put her cigarette back in her mouth and took out one of the beer cans. She held it to him and told him, "Open this, will ya", she requested. Kaidan complied and handed it back to her. She put the shotgun on a nearby table and took a long swig from the beer can. She finished her cigarette, stubbed it out and threw the butt away before re-arming her shotgun. The beer can was still in her other hand. She said, "Come on, maybe you can take a few down." She continued swigging her beer as they made their way to one of the doors at the end of the loading bay. She finished her beer can, threw it away and stood to the side of the door. "Three guys in there, trying to get past that security door. They have no fucking clue", she said, gleefully. "Well, better not keep em waiting", she said, as she kept her shotgun away to take out her short-sword. She smiled at Kaidan, a manic smile, one you'd expect from someone on the edge of sanity. It shook Kaidan a little. She then disappeared from view. "Optical camouflage", thought Kaidan. He heard the door being kicked down, and saw it disappearing from view. He was unsure what his role was. Five seconds later, he peeped in with his gun ready, and saw all three mercs dead, and Shepard sheathing her sword. "You took all of em out with the sword?", he asked. Shepard didn't answer. She took off her visor and shook her head like a dog shaking water off its fur, and drops of sweat rained on the ground. She stood back up and pushed her hair behind. She put her visor back on. "Pretty good workout, hmm. Hope I find extra panties, though. The ones I have on are drenched", she commented. She walked closed to Kaidan, and whispered in his ear. "Not all of it is perspiration, too. Nothing beats a good fight to get you off, ehh." Kaidan smelled her perfume in that moment, a heady mixture of sweat, flowers, alcohol, traces of smoke and burning metal. She walked past without looking at his reaction, which was one of heavy discomfiture, as he considered the implications of her whispered comment. He walked out and saw her across the room, in front of another door. He rushed over, just as she kicked it down. Kaidan went in with her, to a security-office like area, and saw a turian, a human and a batarian._

_"All right, you're all... wait a fucking minute, Grizz? That you?"_

_The turian started, "El? The fuck you doing here?"_

_"I could ask you the same thing, you jackhole", said Shepard as she walked up to him. The turian started walking to her as well. They shook hands, and then Shepard reached over and slapped him. Grizz remarked, " I guess I deserved that."_

_"Damn right you did. Blue Suns, Grizz? Didn't the time on the Kaitlyn teach you anything?"_

_"I didn't do it because I wanted to, El. The security company I was working in went under, and I needed to eat."_

_"So you fucking joined this scum?", said Shepard waving at the other 2 mercs in the room._

_Grizz hung his head. "Like I said, El. No other option."_

_The batarian tried to speak, "Excuse me…"_

_"Oh! Shut up", said Grizz and Elia at the same time, as they gunned down the two other mercs- Grizz taking out the human with his rifle, and Elia taking out the batarian with her pistol._

_Elia holstered her weapon, walked over to lean on the table, and lit up a cigarette. She took off her goggles and placed them down. "Geez, Grizz. If you needed help, you shoulda sent out a feeler or something."_

_Grizz walked up to stand near her, his weapon holstered as well. "I have my pride, El. Besides, I didn't know where the fuck anyone in the group went."_

_Elia took a long drag on her cigarette and exhaled the smoke. "Yeah, I guess I can't blame you completely. Hmm, how'd you feel about joining up with Aria T'Loak on Omega?"_

_"The asari queen of the underworld? She has more honor than any of the merc band scum, and Aleena spoke highly of her. It'd be way better than this shit. Not that I can go back now anyway. Is she hiring?"_

_"Yeah, she had to do some housecleaning about 3 months back, I was on shore leave meeting up with Aleena and we got dragged in to help her out. She needs to bolster her ranks and I'm pretty sure you'd be a good addition."_

_"Yeah? Hmm, sounds good, El. I'll go there and see what I can find."_

_"I'll inform her to expect you, then. Do you need any money? You know to get there and get setup? And before you get any ideas, this ain't a handout, you gotta pay it back."_

_Grizz laughed and lightly punched Elia's shoulder. "Nah, I got enough cash. Just hope this thing works out, though."_

_"It's a better choice than anything else out there for us, man."_

_"Oh, and how about you? You seem to be doing okay, leading the military life."_

_Elia shrugged. "It's okay most days. Lotsa fighting, decent amount of traveling, cheap booze, and decent pay. Don't much care for the life, though. The day I get bored, I'm getting out. It ain't as close as the Kaitlyn, you know."_

_"Yeah, there's something different about what we used to do. Well, too bad it didn't last forever, ehh?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"Umm, I don't know whether I should bring this up, but I heard some stories. You know, about you being the 'Butcher of Torfan'. I was kinda worried, you know, so I was wondering, was it really you doing that?"_

_Elia took a long drag on her cigarette before answering, "Yeah, Grizz, it was. But it wasn't me at the same time. I've changed."_

_"Was there a reason, you know? You were a lot gentler before."_

_Elia paused, then said in a low voice. "They killed Jake and Martin. They were the same group, I got their leader."_

_Grizz swore. "Then, I'm not worried. Hope you made him suffer."_

_Elia nodded grimly. Grizz made an expression that passed for a smile on a turian._

_Elia seemed to think of something. "Say, you gotta working ship, right? That you can go to Omega on?"_

_"Yeah, no worries about that", said Grizz. "We came in a rented corvette. I'll go to Omega in that and return it there."_

_"But, won't the Suns come after you?"_

_"Nah, I'll make it quiet. Wipe myself from the records, you know."_

_"Yeah, should be easy enough."_

_Elia finished her smoke and stubbed the cigarette. She held out a hand to Grizz, and he shook it warmly. "Well, Grizz, you know the drill. Lay low for a while, wait for a bit, then get your bony ass out. I'll tell the Cap what happened, and nobody'll fire on you._

_"Thanks a lot, El. Hey, next time we meet, drinks are on me. Though, knowing you, it'll probably leave a bleeding big hole in my wallet."_

_Elia laughed. "I'll hold you to that, Grizz. See ya around."_

_Elia walked out of the office, Kaidan following in her wake. She took out her second beer can, opened it and took a long swig. She offered it to him. When he declined, she shrugged and told him, "Yeah, set up a channel to the old man. The facility's safe. I'll tell him 'bout Grizz."_

_Kaidan nodded and obliged. As soon as he got a clear connection, he reported. "Sir, the facility's secure. 25 hostiles terminated, all by Commander Shepard. She would like to speak with you as well."_

_Shepard patched into the channel. "Yo, old man. Met an old friend of mine. Goes by Grizz. He was with the Blue Suns, but he's a good guy. Told him to go to Omega to start out fresh. He said he'd leave in the corvette the mercs rented. Tell everyone to hold their fire, he's all right."_

_"Understood, Shepard. Think you can tell me the story later?", said Anderson, at the other end._

_"Thanks. Yeah, I will."_

_"We'll wait for you at the LZ. Anderson out."_

_They reached the courtyard; the corvette was about half a kilometer away. Shepard took a final gulp from her beer can, crushed it and threw it away. "Well, we aren't doing anyone any favors by wasting time, Alenko. Race you to the corvette? Last one in gets to file the report." Shepard smirked._

_Alenko took a running stance. "Bring it on. I used to be the 400m champion at college. I'm pretty sure I could take you."_

_Elia raised her eyebrow. "Oh, this distance would seem right up your street then. But, I did most of the work in there, and I'm down a tankload of booze and a buttload of cigarettes. I carry more guns too, and my armor is heavier. It'd be embarrassing for you to lose. Sure you wanna take the risk?"_

_"Yeah, like I said, bring it on."_

_"Okay, you asked for it. On the count of three."_

_Kaidan nodded._

_Shepard said, "Okay. One, two,… THREE!"_

_And, the two set off. Kaidan was quick, but Shepard easily kept up with him. It was reasonably close run until the last hundred meters, when the difference began to show. Kaidan upped his pace as much as he was able, but Shepard just seemed to go into a different gear. She reached the entrance to the corvette about 20 meters ahead of him, and waited for him to run up. Kaidan was openly panting from his exertions, but Shepard just seemed like she was breathing a slight bit heavier. "Well, what do ya know, Alenko. Looks like you get to write the report. Hmm, yeah about the 20 you saw dead in the loading area, two died from shortsword stabs, two had their throats sliced, five were sniped, three were blasted with a shotgun, the pistol took care of two, three were incinerated and three were warped and thrown. Got all that?"_

_Kaidan nodded weakly. Between gasps, he managed to tell her, "Will ask you for details if I forget."_

_"Fuckin' A, Alenko", said Elia, before kneeling down to face him. "For what it's worth, you are pretty fucking quick." She patted him on his shoulder and made her way inside, her visor in hand, and took off her chestpiece, and arm and shoulder guards to reveal her tank top, clinging to her upper body, accentuating her rather fine figure, wet from all the perspiration caused by her exertions. She shook her head like a dog again, droplets of sweat flying all around. Strands of her hair stuck together as she pushed it back. She took out a towel from the locker, and covered below her waist. She then took off the leg pieces of her N7 armor and put all of it away in her locker. She seemed to glow in the light. As she entered the ladies' bathroom, Kaidan had the distinct impression that she had put on a show for him just to play with his mind._

_Kaidan stood in the shower, the water at a comfortable temperature, thinking about the enigmatic woman who was his XO. He didn't know what to make of her. Kaidan generally thought he could read people well, he felt like he could gauge their motivations, why they took certain actions, why they were on the path they were following. For him, being a soldier, a marine in the Alliance navy had always been a way to protect those weaker than him, and to help further the interests of humanity. For his CO, Captain Anderson, he could tell that he was in it for the opportunity to make a difference, to guide the next generation of soldiers at a time where their roles were rapidly changing, as humanity integrated itself into the galactic community. From the Corporal and the Private whom he'd been playing poker with, he got the impression that they were there to prove themselves, to gain fame, to rise up the ranks. From Elia Shepard, Kaidan could get nothing. She just seemed like a force of nature, creating chaos because she could. To her, combat seemed like a means of expressing herself; it was like she lived for it. He had felt hints of something darker when he'd been beside her during the last mission. An insatiable bloodlust, was it? Whether he liked it or not, Kaidan was drawn to the crazy bitch._

-0-

Kaidan's mind then flitted to the time he had been on Shepard's squad to stop Saren and Sovereign. He hadn't been used much on ground missions, mostly because he wasn't as talented as the rest of her squad of freaks. He had been infatuated with her, loved her even, but she harbored no such feeling for him. Liara had eventually become her girlfriend, and Kaidan had been jealous. He had started making snide comments referencing the relationship between his love and the one he felt had stolen her from him. He wasn't proud of what he did-he had been a fool, a sore loser.

Matters had come to a head at Agrebinium, when he went too far. Kaidan didn't even remember what brought it on. After they got on the Normandy, Shepard had challenged him to a fight to sort out their differences. She'd even let him use his biotics if he wanted, and claimed she could beat him without using hers. Kaidan had laughed-Shepard may have been good, but she can't have been that good. Early on, he had tried to avoid his biotics. Shepard soundly thrashed him, getting in several hits, without taking a single punch herself. Then, he'd lost it, throwing a biotic blast at his Commander. She dodged it with ease. Then, he just kept throwing bolts of blue at her until he could summon up no more. Shepard just dodged every one of his shots, and even deflected a few with her bare hands (he'd wondered how she'd done that- later, he'd found out that an Asari Huntress had trained her biotics). When he was completely spent, he stood panting, his legs barely holding as she came up to him. She told him, "Kaidan, you're a good soldier, but nothing much beyond. You need to realize that I am much more. I am not a soldier – I'm not even part of the Alliance any more. I am a stateless entity, more or less. The next time you mouth off, I'm gonna hand you over to Anderson. Let him deal with his pet soldier. As it is, I only kept you because he told me to." She knocked him out with one strong punch.

Kaidan then thought about the time he met her, on Horizon. He'd been surprised to see her, though he hadn't been sure about how pleasant the surprise was. He'd watched her take out a huge flying monstrosity which shot a laser out its mouth, with three other allies. As he walked over to talk to her, he noticed that one of the people accompanying her was Garrus. The other two were a Krogan (not Wrex) and a Drell, both of whom he didn't know. Kaidan and Garrus had gotten along during their time on the Normandy, though he found Garrus' ideals a tad extreme. Justice at any cost, blood for blood. It seemed to Kaidan like he was dangerously close to a vigilante. There had been that business with Dr. Heart. Or was it Dr. Saleon? Kaidan had been present when they'd raided his starship. They fought their way through husks and crazed assistants before coming upon the salarian doctor himself.

Kaidan closed his eyes as the memory played out in his mind.

_-0—Flashback 2—0-_

_The doctor seemed relieved that a group had made it through to him. Maybe, he was hoping he would be rescued. Of course, that depended on Shepard and Garrus. Kaidan hoped they wouldn't kill him, but it wasn't his place to decide._

_Shepard kept her gun pointing at the doctor. Kaidan noticed that the doctor had a pistol in his hand._

_"Is this him, Garrus?"_

_Garrus nodded, keeping his own gun trained on the doctor._

_"I'd recognize him anywhere, it's definitely Saleon."_

_The doctor then seemed to realize that this wasn't a rescue. He yelped, "What do you mean, I'm not Saleon, my name is Heart. My assistants went crazy and turned on me. I barely made it to this room alive."_

_Garrus scoffed, and mockingly asked the doctor, "So, your experiments decided to turn on you, did they? What'd you do, graduate from hearts and livers to brains and nervous systems?"_

_The doctor looked at Garrus, and recognition dawned on him. He lifted his finger up at Garrus, "You! You're the C-Sec detective. The one who tried to kill me." He turned to Shepard and told her, "This is a deranged mental case. Please, you can't believe him. I am a simple doctor."_

_Shepard spoke, her voice low and menacing. "What did you say? You dare insult one of the finest former detectives at C-Sec? You dare insult a member of my squad? You filthy organ-mongering piece of shit!"_

_Kaidan looked over at Shepard. She was angry._

_She spoke to Garrus. "Garrus, I originally intended to let you take the kill for yourself, if we found the doctor. Well, we found him, and we are going see justice served. But I'd like to request you to let me share the responsibility."_

_Garrus chuckled. "With pleasure, Shepard. On the count of three."_

_"My god! You're both crazy", said Saleon, picking up his pistol._

_"THREE!" said Garrus, as both Shepard and Garrus discharged their weapons. Saleon fell down, dead._

_Both of them holstered their pistols. Shepard put her hand on Garrus' shoulder. "Do you feel satisfied?"_

_"Hell, Shepard, it's like a load off my mind. Just knowing a bastard like him ran scot free because of rules and procedure, it made my blood boil. This felt like justice, for once."_

_"Remember this feeling, Garrus." She paused. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you, but I'll do it anyway. Do not start killing every criminal on the street. There are crimes that deserve death, and crimes where a death isn't always justice. Make sure you always keep that distinction at the back of your mind. Remember this for as long as you live."_

_Garrus turned to face Shepard. "Of course, Shepard. I thank you for letting me lay this matter to rest."_

_Shepard nodded and made her way out. Garrus followed. Kaidan stared at Saleon's dead body for a while. They had just killed someone in cold-blood. It just felt wrong. He turned and followed Garrus out the ship._

_Later on, Kaidan found Shepard in the pantry. He fixed himself a cup of instant coffee and sat down. Shepard was reading something, occasionally taking a sip of her own cup. Kaidan closed his eyes, his mind a whirlwind of thoughts. Presently, Shepard set her cup and her datapad down. She fished out a packet of cigarettes and lit one up. She took a long drag. Then, she noticed Kaidan sitting across her, and offered him a smoke. He declined. She took another drag, and asked, "Aren't you going to comment on what happened with the doctor?", she asked, her tone somewhat curious._

_Kaidan thought, and replied, "You know, I think I'm getting desensitized. Before I woulda questioned your actions. Killing someone in cold blood, even if they deserved it – it just seems wrong. Now, I don't really know. I don't know what to make of you at all. You're an enigma. I can't help that I'm mad about you, but when I think about you, the overriding feeling is one of fear. As effective as you are at what you do, it always seems like you just wanna maximize the destruction wherever you go, without any real reason. I mean, that business back on Noveria – you screwed over that merchant to get your pass, and then you decide to help that Synthetic Insights guy at the bar, clear out his office, just for kicks. And then, you play both sides for no apparent reason, and pretty much caused both the agent and the administrator to kill each other. Finally, you admit you went through all that, just because the administrator pissed you off. I mean, none of those people were good, but they weren't bad. Playing around with them just because you were bored, I just don't know. You're dark, you're chaotic, maybe even evil, but you're necessary. I still can't get a read on what you ultimate aim is, I mean – why do you do what you do? And you have something about you, like you're the ultimate leader. People follow you as a matter of course. Hell, even I follow you, and willingly. But thinking back, I wonder if I'd have done all this if it had been anyone else." He paused, and thought for a bit. Eventually, he just shook his head in defeat. "I'll probably lose my sanity trying to explain what's been happening, trying to think of answers to these questions."_

_Shepard took a long drag on her cigarette and looked at Kaidan with something like sadness in her eyes. "You know, there was this existentialist philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre. He once said that people are like dice. You throw yourself in the direction of your own choosing. You're free because you can do that. Everyone's circumstances are different, but no matter how small the choice, you can throw yourself. Nothing is down to chance or fate, but the choices you make. Because of that, you carry the weight of your actions, because you made the choice." She sighed. "Trying to understand something as chaotic as life is an exercise in frustration. We are all mistakes, you know, outliers in the grand scheme of things. The way we were formed, the probability that we're even here, it's one in an almost infinitely large ocean of possibilities. It's almost like a Stand Alone Complex, you know, like this universe is a copy of several others, but you don't know what the original looks like, so you can't be really sure that the original exists. It's difficult to grasp. The sort of thing you think about to while away your time, I suppose."_

_Kaidan was utterly confused. "Er, so what's your point?"_

_Elia smiled indulgently. "My point is that many things are far from perfect, and the universe is in a constant state of flux."_

_Kaidan gaped at her. "Huh?"_

_Elia laughed. "Ahh damn, you take yourself so damned seriously, you try to keep control all the time. Admirable in a way, but it also means that you won't be able to understand me. You don't need to question your sanity, though. You're perfectly fine. It's difficult for reasonable men to understand free spirits."_

_She chuckled and waved him goodbye before leaving. "Like a wise man once said, 'Amen, Hallelujah and Peanut Butter'. Don't take stuff so seriously."_

_Kaidan sat, his mind reeling. "What the fuck was our conversation about again?", he thought, trying his hardest to remember. He later found references to what Shepard had talked about in several Japanese anime from the 21__st__ century._

_-0-_

Kaidan's mind went back to that meeting on Horizon.

_-0—Flashback 3—0-_

_"Damn it, do something. They took Egan and Sam. And Lilith, too. They damn near took everybody", cried Delan, the mechanic, as he watched the huge Collector ship taking off. He came into view as Kaidan walked toward where the group was. He was distraught, pacing aimlessly on the field, throwing his arms around. "Uh-oh, here it comes", thought Kaidan. If it was Shepard, he knew she had precious little patience for idiots like Delan._

_He was right. Shepard shot back, "And what do you expect me to do, you bloody jackass? The ship's too big to take out; it's too fast to catch. You know, I don't know why I even bother with you useless retards; we put our lives on the line to stop them, and limited the damage – they took less than a third of the people here. Meanwhile, you hide in your fucking bunk like the coward you are, and presume to pass judgment on those who actually took action, tried to help. Gimme a fucking break." She fished out a cigarette and lit it up. Kaidan heard the click of the lighter._

_Soon, their group came into view. Kaidan continued walking up to them. They hadn't noticed him yet. Garrus put his hand on Shepard's shoulder, "Calm down, El. You did what you could. This idiot isn't worth it."_

_The Krogan walked up to the man, and lifted him up by his collar. "Show Shepard respect. If it weren't for her, you'd be dead." He put down the terrified mechanic and stalked back to take his place next to the Drell. The Drell then spoke up, "Those without sufficient knowledge of the situation should not presume to comment. It is the worst form of disrespect, and in this case, an insult to boot." He spoke without heat, but his anger was apparent._

_Delan looked scared. He sputtered out, "Who the hell are you people, anyway?"_

_Kaidan was close enough to the group to be heard. "Elia Albarn Shepard. Former Alliance. An N7 graduate. The Butcher of Torfan. First Human Spectre, incidentally the first from a non-council race too. The Savior of the Citadel and the Council." Kaidan came into view, and looked at Delan. "You're standing in the presence of a legend, possibly the greatest enigma of our age, Delan." Then, he turned to Elia, "And a ghost." She looked just the way he remembered – beautiful, dangerous, and utterly beyond his comprehension. She seemed to have more scars now, though, and they seemed to glow in the light._

_Delan scrunched up his face in recognition. "Shepard? Sure, I remember now, some type of big Alliance hero in Council space." Turning to Kaidan, he said, "All the good people lost, and you survive. Ah, screw this, I'm done with you Alliance types", and walked off in disgust._

_Elia commented, "Ya know, that's the one smart thing he did in this whole mind-numbingly boring ordeal." Kaidan didn't know what she was referring to. Nothing new there._

_He walked up to her. "Shepard…", he said, and held out his hand._

_She accepted it in her free hand, and shook it firmly. "Commander Kaidan Alenko, is it? Been rising up the ranks in the Alliance, I believe. Ah well, you were always the type who would."_

_Kaidan felt himself get inordinately angry. "Two years, and all you can say is that. Two years of losing all hope – I would have followed you into hell itself; you were more than just the Normandy's commander… I attended your funeral, you know, though none of the others were there. Did they know something I didn't? And here I see you, alive and stronger than ever. Where the hell have you been?"_

_"Strapped to a medical table, close to death, more or less. After the Normandy went down, I almost died. Cerberus recovered me, and spent a hell of a lot to rebuild me, to bring me back. I don't know the specifics, and I'm not entirely sure I want to. I mean, I might get permanently scarred and lose my last shred of sanity, if I actually knew all the stuff Miranda put my poor body through." Elia shuddered at the thought. "Anyhow, it took about 2 years before I could wake up again and even then, I wasn't fully ready, I was kinda incomplete, and well, the reason I had to wake up in the first place was because someone was trying to kill me. Guess some things never change. A lot of stuff happened, and here I am, trying to stop the Collectors, who we know are working with the Reapers. Trying to continue the fight I started, pretty much." She turned to the others. "Yo, did I miss anything." "Nah, I think you got all of it", assured Garrus._

_She turned back to Kaidan. "Yeah, so that's what's been happening. What's up with you? Wanna grab a beer somewhere?" She looked around. "Though, this doesn't seem like the kinda settlement with a bar around. How the fuck do these people survive?"_

_There she went again, side-stepping all the issues, treating the entire situation with her characteristic levity. Only this time, Kaidan wouldn't have any of it._

_"So, you're with Cerberus now?"_

_Elia sighed. "You pick out one statement like a fucking homing missile. All Alliance marines with any sort of ability are so predictable." She took a drag on her cigarette and exhaled before going on. "To answer your rather pointed question, yes, I am working with Cerberus. Partly to pay them back for well, rebuilding me, and mostly because The Illusive Man is the only one who isn't questioning what I've been saying all along, what I've been trying to warn this fucking galaxy about. The bloody council said that my mental state was 'fragile' because they 'dismissed my claim' of the Reapers, and I insisted that they existed. Vigil conveniently 'could not be found' and Sovereign is so obviously' a creation of the geth'. Apparently they think that a weakling like Saren Arterius is capable of such great feats of engineering and mind control, just because he was once one of their best. I was the one who fucking convinced him to shoot himself in the head to give himself some sort of redemption because he was great at one time and I figured he deserved at least that. The whole situation is so goddamn pathetic – it's easier to pretend like everything's gonna be fine and ignore doomsday predictions from some madwoman. They wouldn't be caught dead admitting that I am right, or supporting my claims, just because it's bad for politicians to put their weight behind loose cannons and unpredictable geniuses."_

_"But, Cerberus, Shepard? They can't be trusted", insisted Kaidan._

_"Yeah, but face it, Kaidan, neither can the Council or the Alliance. Whatever Cerberus' motives, they, at the very least acknowledge the existence of the threat, and are taking tangible action against it. Which is a helluva lot more than the damn Council or Alliance is doing. Or even the Turian Meritocracy or the Quarian Admiralty or every other fucking government of every 'advanced' race in the galaxy. The only ones who're doing anything to try and prepare are the Krogan and they're crippled. Have you forgotten that the Reapers existed, Commander Alenko? Or do you choose to deny their existence just like the Alliance? Did you start blocking out the memories of Ilos as some sort of bad dream? I personally wouldn't be surprised if you did."_

_"That's not fair, Shepard", protested Kaidan._

_"Isn't it? You claim you'd follow me anywhere, yet you didn't try to find me despite hearing that I might be alive. Save your declarations for those who are affected by it, COMMANDER Alenko."_

_Kaidan found himself getting more than a little angry himself, partly because Elia's accusations were kinda true, loath as he was to admit it. He decided to take a different tack. "Shepard, I can't trust Cerberus. How'd you know that they're not using the threat of the Reapers to control you? How'd you know that the Illusive Man is not working with the Collectors and the Reapers?"_

_Elia stared at him for a moment and broke out in loud peals of laughter. "Oh fuck! That's the best one I've heard in a while."_

_Kaidan appealed to Garrus. "And you too, Garrus? You're working with Cerberus too!?"_

_Garrus looked at Kaidan, his blue eyes icy in their contempt. "I'm working for Shepard, COMMANDER Alenko. Don't think that you're better than her, or that you can pass judgment on her, just because you rose a little in the ranks of your military. And for your information, I don't give two hoots about who sponsors our adventures. I trust Elia, completely and utterly. If she told me to point a gun at my head and shoot myself, I would. Unlike you, I'd ACTUALLY follow her anywhere, and willingly. You have the gall to question the woman who saved the galaxy two years ago, just like those ungrateful wretches on the Council, who, as unfortunate as it is, govern the known galaxy. But, they can be forgiven. They weren't there. You, on the other hand WERE there. Your actions and your attitude just prove that you really aren't worth the trouble. That's my opinion. Make of it what you will." Garrus had positively started shouting by this point. He calmed down, and added, "Just so you know, you'll be riddled with modded bullets from three different guns if you even raise a hand against Elia. Just a warning."_

_Kaidan noticed that Garrus had his rifle pointed at him. Similarly, the Drell had his SMG and the Krogan had a rather mean looking shotgun trained on him. He tried to put it out of his mind and looked back at Shepard. It was fair to say that he was rather rattled. Elia was looking at Garrus with some surprise. She snapped out of her reverie and looked at him, her expression inscrutable._

_She took a drag on her half finished cigarette, and exhaled slowly. "Gimme a fucking break, Alenko. Cerberus is evil, but working with the Reapers and the Collectors? Really? If that's the best you can come up with, then quit wasting both our time and go already. File your report to the Alliance. Blame Cerberus, say I'm working with them, do whatever. The other possibility you mentioned, that The Illusive Man is using the Reaper threat to control me, well that may be partially true. He doesn't control me, but we work together, and it's an uneasy alliance borne out of fighting a common threat. I'd be the first to admit it. But, with the shortage of people in the galaxy willing to prepare for and fight the Reaper invasion, Cerberus is the best option. Until everyone wakes up and accepts the threat, by which time I estimate at least a few hundred billion would have died."_

_She took another drag on her cigarette and considered Alenko. Kaidan realized he wasn't getting anywhere. "Look, Shepard, a leopard can't change its spots. Cerberus cannot be trusted, at any cost. You've changed, or maybe you haven't. I never could figure out your motivations before, and I don't want to pretend that I can understand now. But I've not changed and I know where my loyalties lie. I'm an Alliance soldier through and through. As for my report, I will say that the Collectors are responsible, but its clear Cerberus isn't involved. I can't say anything about the Reapers, because there really isn't any evidence here and now of their involvement. Beyond that, I don't know."_

_"This is more or less how I expected it to go down. But, you honestly think they'll believe your report? The Collectors are an unknown enemy; you know it's easier to blame Cerberus. And my motivations are the same as they have been ever since this mess began - to find a way to stop the Reapers. That's all."_

_"Goodbye, Shepard. And good luck."_

_"Yeah, whatever, Commander. Later."_

_Kaidan walked off._

_-0-_

Kaidan snapped out of his reminiscences as his taxi pulled up to the complex where Shepard was supposedly being held. He got off and went up the twelve floors to where her apartment was and got out of the elevator. He made his way to apartment number 17, at the other end of the floor, overlooking the river. He found the door guarded by the Krogan he'd seen back on Horizon. He walked up to him and said, "I'm Major Kaidan Alenko. I want to meet Elia Shepard. Is she here?"

Grunt looked at him and said. "I don't believe my Battlemaster deserves to have her time wasted by those not worthy. I recognize you, human, from Horizon. You disrespected the greatest warrior in the galaxy back there, and you think to demand a meeting with her?"

Kaidan found himself a slight bit angry at the Krogan. "I served with her, helped her stop Saren. I have proven myself worthy."

Grunt guffawed, a rather scary noise. "Ha, I have heard of you from her and from my clan leader Urdnot Wrex, who also considers her his Battlemaster. You were barely strong enough to be in her squad for all but the most trivial missions. You have proven nothing by those actions. Your behavior on Horizon, however, has more than proven your unworthiness. Get out of my sight, human, and you may leave uninjured."

"Look, you better get out of my way, Krogan. I will meet with Elia."

Grunt grew angry. "You dare speak her name, you unworthy scum?"

Kaidan was livid. His biotics flared and he punched Grunt. Grunt was knocked back against the wall. He spat out some blood and roared. He ran at Kaidan. Kaidan threw a biotic throw at him, but it didn't affect Grunt. "Feel the blood rage", shouted Grunt as he rammed Kaidan with his head. Kaidan was thrown off balance. Grunt immediately punched him right on his stomach. Kaidan went flying and hit the opposite wall, the wind knocked out of him. He clutched his stomach and waited for the next assault, but it never came. He sat up against the wall, and opened his eyes. He hurt everywhere. He saw a woman hugging the Krogan. Shepard.

"Grunt, calm down", she said, patting Grunt on his back and pacifying him, somewhat like a mother calming a baby.

"But, he demanded to enter so he could meet you. I told him he was unworthy, that he didn't deserve any of your time after all that he did, especially back on Horizon. He just attacked me, with a biotic punch. No warning, no challenge. Just threw the punch."

"Does it hurt anywhere?" asked Shepard, with some concern.

Grunt calmed down from his blood rage. Kaidan was once again amazed at her powers of persuasion. Grunt replied, "My chest does, a bit, but it'll go away."

"No open wounds, right?"

"No, Shepard, I'm a Krogan, remember, we regen. But I spat out some blood. I'll clean it up."

"Nah, forget about it, I'll do it. You just go inside and get some rest, all right?"

Grunt's eye fell upon Kaidan, and he seemed to get angry again. "But, how about this varren? Shouldn't I knock him out at least?"

Shepard slapped him. Grunt looked suitably abashed. "Grunt, what did I tell you about fighting, huh? Control your rage."

"Yes, I am in control", said Grunt.

"No you aren't. Do you really think you'll enjoy beating him? He fights without honor, and he can't even get up after your first attack. Is he truly worth it?"

Grunt calmed down. "No", he said, sadly. He suddenly went down on his knees. "I have failed you and your teachings, Battlemaster. You may punish me however you see fit."

Shepard sighed before she went down and lifted him to his feet. She made him face her. "No, Grunt, I've told you before, and I'll tell you again. I will never punish you, and you haven't failed me in any way. The level of control you exhibit is quite impressive, everything considered. You are a credit to your clan. And, I'm proud of you. Never get down on your knees again to anyone. You are krogan, you were good enough to be part of the group that took down the entire Collector race. You took down a thresher maw during your Rite of Passage. The galaxy bows to you, not the other way around."

He replied, "There is no shame in getting down on my knees to the greatest Battlemaster any civilization has ever seen. You released me from my tank, gave me purpose. You led the team against the Collectors. My Rite of Passage was accomplished only because you were at my side. You are also the only one our legendary leader considers good enough to be his Battlemaster. You truly have no match, no equal. I am yours to command, forever."

"Aww, that's so sweet", purred Shepard, as she drew him into a tight hug.

When she released him, she said, "It's almost time to eat. Get inside, all right? I'll finish up here." "Okay", said Grunt before turning and going into the apartment.

Shepard then turned her attention to Kaidan. "Need an ambulance?"

"Nah, I can walk it off", replied Kaidan.

"Okay. See you around, I guess."

She turned to go back in. Kaidan felt weirdly angry. She hadn't even acknowledged him properly. "Shepard, hold on. Hackett told me you'd be here… I wanted to check up on you… see how you were, you know…"

"Well, as you can see, I'm fine. The Alliance has finally accepted the Reaper threat, and they conveniently put me in charge of their war. They offered to reinstate me, but I declined. I'm now a consultant for them, or will be officially, once the Reapers start their invasion and the batarians can't attack the Alliance for my actions on Aratoht. Of course, they're gonna keep postponing my 'trial' until then, though if you ask me, it beats logic that I'd even be put on trial in the first place. I ended my association with the Alliance as soon as I became a Spectre and after I was declared dead, they never changed the records to indicate that I wasn't. I did that mission with Dr. Kenson as a personal favor to Hackett and I made that decision because it was the best one available. I probably saved billions at the cost of less than a million. I'd do it again, given the choice. I've been doing what I can, though the real war's not begun yet. And we're nowhere near prepared for it. Extreme casualties loom."

"Uhh, yeah."

"So, if that's all, I'll go see to Grunt's dinner."

"Shepard, wait… I'm sorry I attacked the krogan that way, it was uncalled for."

Shepard laughed, and told Kaidan mockingly, "Oh Kaidan. It's all right. Grunt was hardly hurt. Though, that kind of behavior is something I've come to expect from you – you always did fight dirty. Though, I gotta say, it's a good thing I came out when I did. Think of all the paperwork I woulda needed to file if Grunt had actually killed you. Anyhow, Major, if you were looking for a friend, you won't find one here."

Kaidan looked down in shame. "You hate me that much?"

Shepard laughed. "Hate? Hate is a strong emotion, Major. Presence of that emotion indicates that you actually care enough about the subject to feel it. I hate Councilor Sparatus, I hate tuna. You, I don't care about enough to feel anything. Honestly, I'm just indifferent to you. You frankly aren't worth the effort. Does that answer your question?"

She looked at him, expressionless, and went back into her apartment, locking the door shut. Kaidan was paralyzed. With sadness, with despair, with some small amount of anger. At himself for acting the way he had, and with what had just taken place. He would have preferred if Elia had hated him for what he did. Anything was better than this indifference. But, it was a fact, Shepard didn't give two hoots about him, she'd said it, and the look she'd given him before she'd left him had confirmed it. He truly was dead to her. And as that realization made its way into Kaidan Alenko's mind, something inside him died.


	3. Partners in Crime

This is set on Menae, just before Garrus rejoins Shepard on the Normandy.

I included the code names on a lark and will be touching on them in later fics relating to the Shadow Broker episode. Or maybe deleting em completely if I find that they aren't working.

For now, these are the ones I've thought of... Shepard : The Baroness, Garrus : Archangel, James: The Pretender, Liara : The Broker, Kasumi : The Saboteur ... I'll need to think of more

-Partners in crime-

"Are you sure it was her?", asked Garrus Vakarian.

Sergeant Bartus replied, "Oh yes! I'm certain. Shepard came here. Said she needed the Primarch. General Corinthus told her about the comm tower, and she went over to fix it. Had an Asari and another human with her. Wore goggles. By the Spirits, she could fight. Took out atleast a hundred husks, by my count. I wish I had a video camera. We could have recorded it and shown our men. That would have upped morale."

"Sounds like her. And Sergeant, that's a damn fine idea! Get someone on it ASAP. She's bound to be here for a time, and she'll certainly leave a trail of Reaper troops in her wake. Show these men that if a human woman could do it, then they bloody well need to man up themselves. And try to make me look good too". Garrus gave Sergeant Bartus a wide smile. The first smile he'd been able to manage in the four days since the Reapers had hit Menae, and Palaven. But, by the Spirits, Garrus was deliriously happy. She was back. And he could join her again, be at her side, watching her back, where he belonged. Watching her six.

The past six months had been frustrating. Shepard had requested him to do what he could to prepare his people for the Reapers after the Alpha Relay incident. She was giving herself up to the Alliance, so that the Batarians couldn't start a war just before the Reapers hit. Garrus also suspected that Anderson and the top brass needed Shepard to help them plan, to try and find solutions and defenses against their enemy.

-0-

It had been difficult for him to leave the Normandy again. But, he knew she was the only hope the damn galaxy had. She had also told him to patch up his differences with Bastian Vakarian, his father. On that, especially, she had been firm. With a heavy heart, he'd listened to her, and did as much as he could to prepare the Turian colonies against the Reaper invasion. He had a small task force, given to him as a token by Fedorian, the Primarch. Actually, he had been given the task force more because his father shouted along with him. Shepard had been right, keeping a clear head was essential to fighting a war. He did not have his unresolved issues with his father dogging him anymore. It was freeing. They had talked for over eight hours, Garrus telling him about what he'd done with Shepard, his work on Omega, his motivation, his reasons, everything. His father had just listened. He hadn't judged him. Bastian finally said that he was proud of Garrus and all he had done. He quickly added that he didn't exactly approve of his methods. But, at the end of it, Garrus had never exactly possessed his father's patience and respect for methods and rules. Father and son accepted that they were different, but that at the end of it, they loved and respected each other for who they were. Garrus had Shepard to thank for that. For pushing him to do it. Just as he had Shepard to thank for bringing him back from the dead at Omega, for her help with his vengeance against Sidonis, for giving him a reason to live.

So, Garrus had done what he could. Prepared colonies for the invasion. Security protocols, evacuation routes, and many other things besides. Two weeks earlier, the first attacks began. Ten days earlier, he had been called to the Imperium at Cipritine, to meet with the Primarch, and the generals of the Turian Empire. (Garrus had been surprised to learn there were only 14. He'd always put the number closer to 50) He'd met legends of the Turian military, men like Adrien Victus, Denid Isendral, and Miles Corinthus. And then, Primarch Fedorian requested his help as a soldier who had seen the Reapers, and had helped Commander Shepard stop them before. He then offered to make him a General, so he would have the respect and position he needed and deserved for his actions, thus far ignored, but now with the threat looming, finally realized. Garrus had gaped at Fedorian openly. He then gathered himself, and declined. It was the Primarch's turn to gape. The Generals also looked at him, astonished. He then said, "I am sorry, Primarch. I am honored by your offer, but I cannot. Being a General of the meritocracy would require me to remain at Palaven, or in Turian space. The men under me will expect it, as will everyone else. I have no intention of staying here. Elia Shepard is my mentor, she is my focus. We've been fighting this for over three years now. And, I sure as hell plan to be at her side at the end. It would be a disservice to the Empire to accept this role. I would be happy to provide my services as an advisor, and will be at your disposal whenever I have the time."

There was silence in the room. The Primarch looked at Garrus thoughtfully.

General Victus broke the silence. "What makes you put so much faith in Shepard?"

"I have fought at her side, General. That is enough. But, that isn't reason enough for you to listen to me. We recorded the fight against the Collectors and all the data we found on the Reapers at various points of our fight against them. I also have Shepard's recording of the events in the Alpha Relay incident." The Generals looked at him with some surprise. Garrus explained, "We all had our omni-tools outfitted with holographic vidcams. Tali, Miranda, and Mordin came up with it. Shepard was tired of being labeled mentally unstable for not having proof about the Reapers. Well, we recorded all our skirmishes with them, and well, I can show you parts of it that are relevant."

He then proceeded to show them Harbinger's ability to remotely control his minions, and his visceral, terrifying threats, mostly aimed at Shepard. He also provided details of Harbinger itself, one of the oldest Reapers, possibly their leader, what they had pieced together with EDI's help. He also showed them the conversation Shepard had had with Harbinger, during the Alpha Relay incident, where she was called an annoyance. Garrus noted with some satisfaction how that made everyone sit up.

At the end, Garrus looked around the room. Finally, Fedorian spoke up, "The Reapers, these machines, know of Shepard, have marked her as their biggest threat. The krogan have a belief: a warrior is only as strong as his or her enemies. It is rather apt here, and says a lot about this human. Garrus, do you have any idea what she has in mind? And what her allies and friends are doing?"

"She has high friends in higher places. We are an odd bunch, the crew of the Normandy, past and present. I do have a general idea of what everyone is up to. Dr. Liara T'Soni, daughter of the late Matriarch Benezia, was studying Prothean archives everywhere in the hopes of finding something to use against the Reapers. She's been part of this from the beginning, too. For reasons I will not reveal, her resources will prove invaluable. As for Shepard herself, she is in the care of the Alliance, though she has no plan to accept reinstatement even if it is offered."

Fedorian chuckled. Garrus looked at him questioningly.

"I was just thinking, all of Shepard's squadmates and friends largely seem to have one thing in common. They are not good citizens, outsiders even to their species. Even you, Garrus. I believe you gave up on the meritocracy long ago. Now, I'm not chiding you for it. Non-conformism is not a crime."

Garrus was beginning to like the Primarch. He was open-minded, at the very least. "Thank you for your support, sir. As I was saying, Shepard is probably helping the Alliance prepare anyway she can. Urdnot Wrex, Grunt and the Krogan will be willing to help her, and for them to help us, we need to negotiate. We wait till Shepard gets involved on that front. Similarly, with the Quarians and the Geth. Tali'Zorah and Legion went back to their people to prepare them. I'm not sure how they are faring. Miranda Lawson said they'd try to get some of the Cerberus cells to join us. Lots of brilliant people work for Cerberus without knowing what they really are. Zaeed will do his part with his mercenary contacts. Kasumi Goto said she'd try and find new technology that could help. Last I heard, Jack is instructing human students in the application of biotics to help the war effort. Thane Krios' condition was progressively worsening towards the end of our time on the Normandy, but he promised to get as much help as he could from the Hanar, Drell and fellow assassins using his old contacts. Mordin Solus said he'd try and rally the STG and make them aware of the threat. Shepard has actually worked with the STG before, she counts Anders Kirrahe among her acquaintances. Samara went off to collect the Justicars for an unprecedented gathering of their order. Jeff Moreau and EDI will likely join in when Shepard enters the fray."

Garrus paused. The top echelons of the meritocracy sat around him, contemplating what he said.

"How will we galvanize these forces to follow a single cause?", asked General Perillon.

Garrus replied, "This war is going to have extraordinarily high costs. The only way anything can be salvaged is if there's a hero to believe in. Shepard's the only one I believe the entire galaxy can follow. She fights impossible odds and overcomes them time and again. I mean, how many people can collect a squad of twelve people, with barely anything in common apart from a talent for combat, unite them, lead them into an unknown world, destroy an ancient enemy with advanced technology, and then come riding out, with no casualties. That being said, many of us will die, but we will need to stand together and keep fighting for survival. Because that is the only choice. We could have limited the damage had we listened to Shepard three years back. But even if we had prepared, the Reapers would still have set the galaxy ablaze. If we lose, they will destroy us all. Harvest us. We cannot let that happen. For the sake of all the civilizations that have risen and fallen before us. To destroy the Reapers for trying to play God and decide when and how we live and die. 40 million years of slaughter cannot go unpaid."

There was a stunned silence in the room. Garrus realized that he had started banging on the table midway through and stamping his foot for effect during his little speech. He coughed and said, "Sorry about that. Er, got a bit carried away."

Suddenly, somebody started laughing. It was Victus. "Well said, Garrus. This Shepard of yours sounds like a force of nature. Is that about right?"

"Well, sir. She's unlike anyone I've ever met. If you do get the chance to meet her, you'll know what I mean. I was with her on Virmire. When she spoke to Sovereign. She listened to him, his tales of what the Reapers were, what they would do. She just pointed her gun at him and said, 'You're just a machine. And machines can be broken'. Among many other things, that stayed with me. She takes us on suicide mission after suicide mission, and we all come out in one piece. She even disappeared for a while. Almost died, apparently. But, given what she's done, 'cheating death' doesn't seem a particularly incredible addition to her CV." Garrus chuckled as he reminisced. Then, he suddenly realized where he was. "Apologies, good sirs. Didn't mean to wander off. Erm, I have intelligence and data that could help us. I'll make it available. Beyond that, I place myself at your disposal, Primarch, Generals."

Fedorian laughed this time. "This is going to be greater than anything we have ever faced. For now, with your help, Garrus, we must chart our course in the near future, until your heroine rides in to save the day." He chuckled. "But that meeting, we will have in the evening, after everyone is sufficiently rested. Goodbye. May the Spirits watch over us all."

-0-

Garrus came back to the present, and felt a twinge of sadness. Primarch Fedorian had been lost about half a day ago. He had been a good man, a man Shepard would have approved of, and Garrus could only hope the new Primarch was as capable. He rushed back to the encampment to find Shepard. He went over to Commander Drevin's tent. Drevin handled the comms. He cleared his throat and said, "Commander Drevin. Have you been able to establish a comm link to Palaven? What's the word on the Primarch?"

Drevin stood to attention and saluted, "Vakarian, sir. I didn't see you come in."

"At ease, Commander. So, about the comm link?"

"Yes, sir. Palaven command has sent word. I was just about to relay the info to General Corinthus."

"Can you tell me, Commander? I was about to go see the General myself. He has some rather interesting visitors."

"I heard about that, sir. The word is that Shepard is here. Is it true?" Drevin looked at Garrus hopefully.

Garrus knew Shepard was famous. Hell, she was a legend. But, why did the commander standing in front of him look so hopeful. "You know her, Commander?"

"Oh, not really, sir. She saved me once, though. My squad and I were pinned down by the Blood Pack on an uncharted world. We'd seen suspicious activity, and stumbled onto a base. Six of us in the squad, four of us down. Thought we were done for. And then in comes Shepard and two others, one was Krogan and the other one was Salarian."

"Grunt and Mordin."

"Yes, sir. She seemed surprised to see us. Gave us medi-gel to help our wounded and helped us get to our shuttle. Then, went back and destroyed the comm relay. I remember the fight. She is quite fearsome. The Krogan leader of the mercs was a huge hulking battlemaster. He went head to head with the Krogan on Shepard's squad and knocked him down. Shepard cried out, and charged toward him, and gave him a punch that sent him flying. Then incinerated his face with a shotgun. The Salarian came up and lifted the Krogan to his feet. Krogan and Salarian working together! I remember being quite impressed with her."

"She has that effect on people", said Garrus, simply.

"Yes sir. Oh and the info you wanted? The new Primarch is General Victus."

"Adrien Victus?", asked Garrus.

"The very same."

"Thank you, Commander."

Garrus nodded at the Commander and walked toward Corinthus' tent. He was slightly distracted. Victus had been fighting alongside him that very morning. While Fedorian was open to unconventional strategies on the battlefield, Victus had made his career out of them. Much like Shepard had made hers out of doing the impossible. This would be interesting.

As he approached the General's tent, he could hear Shepard. She sounded slightly impatient. "Come on! I need somebody. Anybody so we can get the Turians on board." General Corinthus was trying to calm her down. "This isn't the sort of info you can give over channels, Commander. Commander Drevin will be here shortly."

Shepard sighed, and then seemed to stop arguing.

Garrus walked into the tent. "I'm on it, Shepard. We'll find you the new Primarch."

Shepard crinkled her brows and squinted out over Corinthus' shoulder. That voice sounded familiar. Garrus walked up beside Corinthus and Shepard exclaimed, "Garrus!" with obvious joy.

Garrus also spied Liara behind Shepard. It was good to see her alive and well.

"Vakarian, sir. I didn't see you arrive", said Corinthus.

"At ease, General."

Spirits, this was getting old. Generals calling him 'Sir'.

Shepard gave him a lopsided smirk. Oh, he'd be teased no end for this.

"I thought you'd be on Palaven", said Shepard, presently.

"If we lose this moon, we lose Palaven. I'm the closest thing they have to an expert on Reapers, so I'm advising."

Shepard hastily stubbed the cigarette she had lit, and walked over to Garrus. "Good to see you again, Garrus", said Shepard shaking his hand firmly.

She turned to the well-muscled human on her left. He was big, no two ways about it. Garrus still fancied he was taller than him though.

"James, this is Garrus Vakarian. He helped me stop the Collectors, and Saren before that. He can never stay away from any fight I drag him into."

James stepped forward to shake Garrus' hand. "I've heard a lot about you, sir. The Reapers'll be pissing their pants now."

Garrus laughed. "This is gonna dwarf all our previous fights, Lieutenant. Nice to have you onboard. Good to see you too, Liara."

Liara smiled and said, "I'm glad to see you're in one piece, Garrus. The Reapers have got to be scared now. The Baroness and Archangel are formidable foes on their own. Together, well, we've seen what they're capable of."

Garrus shot back, "I hear The Broker is also helping them from the shadows. There are some pretty crazy stories about what the three of them could do together."

Liara blushed slightly. They were referencing the previous Shadow Broker's code names for the group. Shepard was 'The Baroness', Garrus was obviously 'Archangel', Liara 'The Broker'. Liara also remembered that there had been a file on James Vega too, 'The Pretender' – not a particularly flattering title, an obvious reference to this desperate attempts to follow Shepard's path.

General Corinthus cleared his throat. He was quite obviously lost. Garrus quickly remembered his secondary purpose for coming.

"Oh yes, Commander Drevin filled me in. The man we're looking for is Adrien Victus."

Liara's eyes lit up in recognition. She said, "Victus? His name's crossed my deck a few times."

Garrus said, "Lifelong military. Popular with his troops. Not so much with the high command. Tendency to play loose with accepted strategy. That business with the Salarian spy ring and Turian Separatist Group on Taetrus was his doing."

Shepard nodded knowingly. "I couldn't have done much better myself."

General Corinthus commented, "A bold move. But, wild behavior doesn't get you promoted up the meritocracy."

Shepard countered, "Battle strategies that work even if they don't fit the norm don't imply wild behavior, General. It is an unfortunate state of affairs. I should know. However, this might be a good thing. What do you make of him, Garrus? Sparatus and Quintus back at the Citadel spoke well of Fedorian."

"I was fighting alongside him this morning. I trust him. He'll do whatever it takes to get the job done. And though he doesn't jump at the chance to destroy everything in sight like an old human Spectre I knew, he is open to extreme solutions."

Shepard blushed slightly at the implied praise. Or was it criticism? She turned to the General.

"General, have you been able to raise him yet?"

"Not been able to establish a stable comm link with his position."

Shepard was buzzed over her own comm link. It was Joker. Emergency on the Normandy. This was worrying. Liara offered to go back and make sure they were ready. Shepard nodded at her and told her to do it.

After resolving that, Shepard turned back to talk to the General, but was rudely interrupted by a harvester's high pitched shriek. Shepard looked at it, and turned back to Corinthus, "Okay, General. Try to raise the Primarch if you can. In the meanwhile, we'll take care of what that thing dropped off."

Garrus knew Shepard was a woman of action. And action was so near, he could taste it.

Shepard turned to Garrus, twinkle in her eye, a smile playing on her lips. She knew the answer to her question before asking it. She asked anyway, "Coming, Garrus?"

Garrus reloaded his sniper rifle, a custom modded Widow, one that Shepard had got for him herself, and looked back at her. "Are you kidding? I'm right behind you." He reloaded his rifle, checked its sights, and took his place to the right of Shepard. James looked over at him and reloaded his shotgun, and took his place to her left. Shepard put her visor back on (an Umbra Visor- a Rosenkov Materials prototype), reloaded her trusty Locust (in her right hand), and her recently acquired Paladin (a modded Carnifex, not as heavy, in her left hand), checked to see that Raze, her short-sword was sheathed, and nodded to her companions to move out.

-0-

General Corinthus stared after the three who had just left, supremely confident in their ability to take down a harvester. He'd known Vakarian was good, the human male, James had looked capable. But the woman who led them. She truly was a force of nature, capable of extreme destruction. Tobestik had spoken in awe of her ability in combat. The comm tower had gotten jammed about an hour previously. Shepard had arrived and fixed that problem in less than a quarter of that. Apparently she had even managed to get lost on the way there. The General commed a squad, which happened to be near where Shepard was headed. He told them to move out and go to another part of the battlefield. Didn't want anyone getting in Shepard's way. Somehow, the General didn't think much of the harvester's chances.

-0-

General Adrien Victus' squad was having a bit of a problem. They were almost platoon strength, in entrenched positions all around the camp. Yet, they had already suffered quite heavy losses. Twenty of fifty men down, another five dead. And they had taken down only one of those wretched brutes. Three remained. It looked rather bleak. Suddenly there was a flash of blue. One of the brutes fell, its head severed. Then a high impact blast and a loud explosion took another one down. The last one seemed surprised by the deaths of his colleagues. He was knocked back. Victus took up a sniper rifle and scoped in to see the ones responsible for the carnage. He saw a Turian holding a powerful looking sniper rifle picking off the smaller reaper troops. Looked like Garrus. Wait a minute. It was Garrus! Which could only mean Shepard was here. He turned his attention to human male wrestling the turian-looking reaper down and killing it. What had they dubbed it again…. Oh yes, a marauder. But that couldn't be Shepard. Shepard was female.  
And then, he saw her. "Spirits", he swore. She was crazy. She seemed to be teasing the brute. His heavy club was coming down multiple times, but she just kept dodging it with ease. Then, almost as if to say, 'playtime's over, you son of a bitch', she wreathed herself in a blue (biotic) barrier, a short-sword appearing in her left hand and charged at the monster, her hand ready to release the full force of the power she had summoned. And, she bashed the creature's head in with her right hand, sliced its head off with her left. It groaned and fell. Then, in the same fluid motion, she switched her stance and hit the ground below her with a nova powerful enough to knock the marauders that surrounded the brute back. Two of them stayed down, dead and defeated. The other stood up, dazed and was quickly gunned down by the newcomer human male. A few stragglers were left. The group made short work of them.

Vakarian glanced around at the stunned soldiers around the compound. Victus fancied he saw a smirk playing on the turian's face. Shepard walked around the compound, obviously searching for someone. Whenever she found a wounded turian, she stopped to give him some aid, so that they could move to safety. Garrus walked up to her and pointed in Victus' direction. Shepard then changed course, and strode purposefully toward the General, Garrus by her side. The other human male followed in their wake. Victus supposed that he was whom she wanted to meet. He wondered why. He said, "Lieutenant, lower the door. Let's see what she wants." He went out of the enclosure and stood surveying the rest of the camp. Presently, Shepard walked up to him. She took off her goggles. Obviously specialized equipment. Her tech skills were considerable , in Garrus' estimation. And one look at Garrus' visor had been enough to tell him that Garrus himself was rather good with tech. If he regarded Shepard highly, well.

That was a moot point, however. Victus fancied he was a tad bit intimidated by the human female.

She spoke, "General Adrien Victus?"

-0-

Her voice was well, feminine, and had an edge to it. Not impatience. It had a quality that gave the impression that she wasn't to be trifled with.

"Yes?" he replied, guardedly.

"I'm Elia Albarn Shepard, of the Normandy, consulting for the Alliance, and a Council Spectre. There isn't any easy way to say this. Primarch Fedorian is dead. You're the new Primarch, and are needed off-world to chair a summit of the galaxy's species in the war against the Reapers. I've come to get you."

Victus' mind went into overdrive. He said weakly, "I'm Primarch of Palaven, negotiating for the Turian hierarchy?"

"Yes", affirmed Shepard.

"But, I'm no politician. I hate politicians. And, I piss people off. I've been military all my life. War is in my blood. I've led men in every major battle in the last 30 years, taken some extreme measures at times. I may seem reckless, though I'm anything but." He trailed off.

Shepard considered him for a moment. Then walked up to him and said, "You sound perfect. You know how it can get. War is your resume. We need leaders who have seen that hell, not prissy little politicians playing their power games while the whole damn galaxy crumbles." She gave him a small smile.

"I like that." Victus was beginning to like this woman. He had seen enough evidence of her ability in combat. Now, he saw her ability to inspire, to make people believe. He had actually started to believe, to hope. Wasn't that strange? His home-world, burning. The moon he was on, barely holding. She glanced at him expectantly.

"Commander..."

"Actually, I don't have a rank. I don't believe I will ever accept another", she interjected.

"But you command the Normandy?"

"That I do."

"Then you're Commander. As I was saying, do you really believe we have a chance against these machines, these abominations?"

Shepard looked around her. She turned around and said, "There's no two ways about it, we will lose a lot of people. Family, friends, loved ones. But, these machines have given us, and countless civilizations before us, enough pain. Their very existence is a mistake. We will stop them. We will survive and rebuild. So yes, I believe we have a chance. I have to." She held the gaze a few moments longer.

Victus nodded decisively. "Give me a moment to say goodbye to my men."

Shepard nodded. Garrus walked up to her. She made her way to a couple of crates behind her and settled herself on one. Garrus stood next to her, looking at the destruction on Palaven. Shepard took our her pack of smokes, and lit one up, not offering one to Garrus as turians could not smoke cigarettes. They were a pastime meant only for humans, asari, and elcor.

Shepard took a long drag. Presently, Garrus said, "Just look at that. A force that powerful, and they want my advice on how to deal with that. Failed C-Sec officer, ex-vigilante." He trailed off.

"Yeah failed C-Sec officer who helped bring Saren down. Ex-vigilante who helped destroy the Collectors. Look at me. Rogue Spectre. Butcher of Torfan. Hell, I even massacred an entire system to buy us what, six months? And they expect me to lead the galaxy into this war."

Garrus chuckled. "You know there's something weird going on when a merry band of misfits is all that stands between survival and total destruction", he quipped.

The two looked out onto the sight of Palaven burning.

Presently, Garrus said, "Tell me honestly, Shepard. Do you think we can win this?"

She considered him briefly, and replied, "I don't know, Garrus. But, I'm sure as hell gonna give it my best shot."

"And I'm damn sure no one else has a chance of pulling it off."

He paused, then, "For what it's worth, I'm with you, whatever comes, till the end."

"Just like old times?"

The two friends laughed. They had come a long way since meeting on the Citadel-Shepard had been looking for evidence to bring Saren down, and Garrus was being stonewalled by C-Sec as he tried to find evidence that Saren had betrayed the Council.

Shepard finished her cigarette, stubbed it, and stood up. "It's damn good to have you aboard, Garrus."

"Wouldn't miss this fight for anything." He thought for a bit. "Another thing, how the hell are you able to dual-wield an SMG and a pistol."

Shepard smiled. "Oh, you noticed? Well, I developed a mod that allowed me to keep both reasonably steady. I practiced during my incarceration at Earth. I work best with two SMGs or two pistols, but recently I've taken to using one of each for its versatility."

"No assault rifles?"

"Not unless I need em. I worked a bit on my omni-tool too. It has a few new ideas that I can show you, if you're interested. I also had Miranda fit me with some biotic and cybernetic upgrades. Anderson himself came as my escort. Guess Hackett and he understood that I wasn't exactly controllable. My co-operation was a two way street, though I made very few requests."

Garrus pondered on this for a moment.

The two of them turned to see Primarch Victus approaching.

"Commander, I appreciate the need for all of us to work together. But, I can't promise anything while Palaven burns and casualties continue to mount. But, if the pressure could be taken off Palaven…"

Garrus knew what was coming, but Spirits, couldn't Victus word it better. Just tell her what they needed. He made it sound like he expected Shepard to go around Palaven and kill every Reaper that had landed. Not that she couldn't, but hell, she was needed elsewhere.

Shepard brow furrowed, confusion apparent. "Er, Primarch. That's a pretty tall order…"

Victus seemed to realize that he'd confused Shepard.

"Yes, I should have worded that better. I don't believe we can win this without the Krogan. Get them to help us, and we can help you. I believe they will listen to you, if what Garrus says is true."

Shepard's face cleared up. "Of course, Primarch. I completely agree. So, I take it you are open to extending them an invitation to the summit?"

"Yes." Shepard nodded at the new Primarch.

"Also, before we go further, I will make my position clear to you. In this fight, I have no allegiance. I declined reinstatement into the Alliance, and I am working for them only in an advisory function. The Council granted me Spectre authority, but I am not under their purview. Both the groups seem to believe, however, that I should run the war. I will accept all manner of allies, and get everyone to work together however I can. That will also mean that sacrifices will be necessary. Anything I do is to get everyone working together, and more importantly, for the peace to hold once the war is over. It will mean nothing if the universe returns to the same darkness after the haze of war clears. Will that be a problem, Primarch?"

The Primarch considered the implications of what she said. He nodded, and said, "I agree in principle to what you have said, Commander. I will also say that they are lofty and noble ideals. You have my support as long as you don't unnecessarily endanger my brothers and sisters, and in return, I will extend the same respect to you and your allies, irrespective of their species."

As they walked to the shuttle, Garrus commented, "Shepard, your summit just got a lot more interesting."

"Technically, it was called by the previous Primarch, Garrus."

"Oh, that's just because we were growing impatient. You were taking your sweet time joining the fight."

Shepard chuckled.


	4. The Impressions of a Primarch

These stories are not strictly canon.

Like, my Shep has her own story, and I couldn't resist keeping Kasumi onboard the Normandy. Also, I've read some fics which involve Garrus' sister, so I thought I could try and explore a role for her.

Comments, criticism and ideas much appreciated!

-'The impressions of a Primarch' and 'Saving the Vakarians'-

Commander Shepard greatly surprised Victus. He supposed he shouldn't have been. Anyone with her kind of experience was bound to be something… something mythical maybe. He considered what her work history would read like. Mentally, he went over what he knew of her. "Completed the galaxy's toughest military training program in 67 days flat, less than a sixth of the average time it took. (Damn, that was impressive. Victus had read reports of the N7 training, it was so brutal even the Blackwatch respected those that received the commendation) Butcher of Torfan. First Human Spectre. Savior of the Citadel. Destroyer of the Collectors. Stopped the genesis of a human Reaper. Destroyed the Alpha Relay to stop the Arrival." Several other less famous exploits, but no less notable for their difficulty of execution. This woman had made a career out of doing the impossible. He suspected he wasn't the first to reach that conclusion. The Specialist who had been assigned to integrating datafeeds so he could keep up with the situation on Palaven seemed to have finished.

"It should be done, sir", she said. She spoke in an accent that sounded different from Shepard.

"My thanks, Specialist…."

"Traynor, sir. Samantha Traynor."

"My thanks, Specialist Traynor."

"Quite welcome, sir. Commander Shepard will be here with you shortly, though I believe it will only be a brief visit."

"Er, Specialist, you refer to Shepard as 'Commander'. She led me to believe that she refused a rank in the Alliance, and is working as a consultant?"

"I'd say she's more like a goddamn hero, sir. Only, it wouldn't be appropriate to call her that, would it. We wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for her actions over the years. As to why we call her by her previous rank, it's because it fits, I suppose. She commandeers the Normandy, easily the most advanced warship in the galaxy. She tried correcting us at first, but gave up after a while and just let it go. Many of the crew weren't comfortable calling her by her name. Maybe an Alliance thing? So it stuck. She's 'Commander' to the crew, whether she likes it or not. Members of her squad have their own versions of address, though." She laughed. "Now, I'd like to tell you how this works…"

Victus listened attentively as Traynor explained how he could get what he needed on the ship. She also gave him the communication codes to get in touch with Shepard, Garrus or her when he was within the ship. She also gave him clearance to walk in and out of the war room, and promised to give him a tour later if he needed it, though she guessed Shepard would probably cover that herself.

Presently, she said she had work to catch up on, and to contact her if he needed anything. Victus nodded his thanks and set to work, familiarizing himself with the room and the information he could access.

Presently, Shepard entered the war room. She looked around and found the Primarch at one of the side terminals, where Traynor had presumably linked the turian datafeeds.

Shepard walked up to him. "So, Primarch, settling in?" She was dressed in a hoodie and military slacks.

Victus seemed a bit taken aback by her clothing. He quickly hid his surprise, and pushed his mind to other matter. It was her ship after all, and damned if he was going to question this particular human. "Yes, Commander. Thank you for providing me use of this room and for everything your specialist set up. I enjoyed chatting with her."

"Sam is quite capable. Tell her if you need anything else set up. Well, I've got some other duties to get squared away. I'd like to talk to you more, and give you the tour, but that'll have to wait for a bit. Sorry if that looks like a slight, but please do believe me when I say I mean nothing by it." She smiled apologetically.

"I understand completely, Commander. You're running this whole war for all of us. I can appreciate how much more difficult your job is", said Victus, in a tone that he hoped would reassure her. He understood the pressure she was under, and wasn't going to make her feel guilty over a trifling matter.

"I promise I'll be back soon, though. I'd like to hear more about your exploits", she said, smiling at him.

"Oh, I'm sure your stories are a lot more extraordinary", said Victus, laughing.

"Most of my missions were small squads, and they still are. You've led armies into battle."

"You will, too. Soon enough. You're the only one who can unite them all."

"I have a vested interest then. Nothing like learning from one of the best", she said.

Victus had to laugh again. "I certainly hope I can be of some assistance. Actually, there is one pressing matter-would you require any more operatives in your squad? For your missions, I mean. I would like to offer help, if I can. Not personally, of course. I'm too old for your type of ops and even at my peak, I doubt I could have kept up. I can provide dossiers on some of our very best, however, and transfer them to your command."

"That's a very kind offer, Primarch. And I might have to take you up on that. Just one particular operative, though", said Shepard.

"Who did you have in mind?"

"We have another extraction to do. I'll be taking the shuttle to Palaven for it. The Commander of a certain Turian Blackwatch squad is related to Garrus."

"Ah yes. Lieutenant Commander Solana Vakarian."

"Yeah. We'll be extracting her and Garrus' family. I'll probably ask her to join my crew. Her skills may be valuable on my missions. If she agrees, then I may need your authorization."

"Yes. Most certainly. May I ask you whether this extraction is purely in the interests of your mission?"

Shepard considered Victus for a moment, and shrugged. "Maybe not completely. Garrus is a valued friend, a brother to me. He asked for this as a personal favor, and mentioned his sister's exploits. I believed that his sister could be valuable, yes, but I'm doing it more for Garrus' peace of mind. I'd do this for any one of my crew. They're like family to me, and I figure I owe it to them."

Victus was surprised by her frankness. "I appreciate the candor, Commander. It tells me a lot about your principles, when you're willing to sacrifice so much for your crewmen."

"I'll take that as a compliment, Primarch. Even if you did not mean it as such, I am not ashamed to admit that I'd do anything for my crew, just as they'd do anything for me." Shepard spoke with a curious intensity, similar to the way she'd spoken to the Primarch to convince him to leave Menae.

"Again, Commander, I apologize. Rest assured that I meant it as a compliment. It is a little difficult to convey signals native to our own species across races."

Shepard laughed. "You needn't tell me. I've had plenty of experience."

Victus laughed as well. Suddenly, Joker's voice boomed over the comm. "Shepard, Destination, ETA 15 minutes. Who'd you like to get suited up?"

"Hmm, Garrus, Kasumi, EDI, and Javik on this one. Ask Cortez to be ready."

"You sure about EDI, Commander."

"EDI has to answer that one."

"Joker's worries are unfounded, Shepard. This platform will be ready and waiting at the shuttle."

"Understood, EDI. You heard her, Joker."

"Yes, Commander", said Joker, unable to hide the worry from his voice.

-0-

Solana Vakarian was not in a good mood. A little bit about her. It was commented by several members of the Blackwatch that she was quite possibly the most talented infiltrator ever to have been inducted into its ranks. She had risen to the rank of Commander at the very young age of 23. Her battle style relied heavily on her enhanced optical camouflage cloak. She was a hand-to-hand specialist, and could slice most any enemy with her trusty modified omni-blade. She was a crack-shot with a pistol and a decent sniper. She also made use of carefully placed mines which she could detonate remotely- unobtrusive, but quite destructive. She was not in a good mood because her left leg was broken.

Her brother had been appointed 'The Expert Advisor on the Reaper Forces' about a week previously, and she'd immediately made her way to the Helos Medical Institute to ensure the safe transport of her ailing mother to their estate in Palaven. The Institute was closing operations, its doctors reposted to various hospitals around the galaxy to aid the war effort. They'd arrived at their home just about ten hours before the Reapers started tearing into Palaven. It had been two days since then. The casualty reports were staggering. 3 million lost the first day. 5 million the second. They'd been able to evade the patrols thus far. The only patrol that had caught them had been dealt with, quite easily. Reaper troops resembling turians, humans and batarians (those were quite unrecognizable, she guessed they were batarian because they had four eyes) had made an appearance, but they still seemed to die if you stabbed em in the heart or sliced off their head, or shot em enough. The three had made their way to a safehouse- basically the cellar of their close family friend Vernon Perillon. He was a General in the meritocracy, and was away on duty. Her injury had been an unfortunate accident. Solana preferred not to think of it.

She'd been in intermittent contact with her brother. The last time they spoke had been about eight hours ago. He'd been excited. He'd told her, "Shepard's here, Sol", like it was the official signal to start dancing and rejoicing. The way Garrus spoke about the human, you'd think she was some sort of goddess. She'd soon see her in action, she supposed. Garrus had gone on to say that he'd request her to extract them. Bastian, their father had protested, saying they were no more important than the others who were struggling to survive on Palaven. Garrus told him they were actually coming for Sol, since Shepard felt they could use her. They planned to drop Bastian and his wife, Trianna at the Citadel so they could him organize the turians in the refugee camps there. It irked Solana that Garrus had possibly used her as a bargaining chip to secure the safety of her family. But, she supposed all was fair in war.

She heard a sudden noise above. Something large. Metallic feet possibly. Suddenly, the ceiling in the room adjacent to them caved in. Bastian came over to help Solana into the large closet. Trianna sat beside her and Bastian took his place at the other side. Bastian closed the door. They remained as quiet as they could. Another huge crash sounded. A loud thud in the adjacent room. Whatever had landed there, had been strong enough to break the fucking ground. Solana and her parents dared not move. Suddenly, another crash sounded, and the wall at the far end of the room they were in gave way. The dim light lit up a hulking monstrosity. It had a huge metal claw it used as a bludgeon. It broke more of the wall to give itself room to move in. It looked around menacingly. Its face looked a lot like the faces the turian Reaper troops had. It was attached by a length of thick metal to the rest of its body. Metal plates further covered large areas of its flesh. Solana, Bastian and Trianna readied the weapons they had, Solana, a Carnifex hand cannon, Bastian, an Avenger rifle, and Trianna, a Predator pistol. The brute paced menacingly toward the closet. Suddenly, he was interrupted by a blinding flash, and a mischievous laugh. And a figure came out of nowhere, and rammed into the monster. Solana could make out a biotic barrier protecting the figure. Then, as the figure fell to the ground, it swiveled and used its left hand to smash the ground with an incredible amount of biotic power. The monster, already off balance as a result of the ram, fell on its side. Solana had realized by now that the newcomer was a human woman. An insane, rash, and extremely powerful human woman. She quickly got to her feet after her previous attack, and rushed toward the toppled enemy. As she made a running leap, Solana could make out blue biotic energy in the palm of her right hand. She crashed her right hand on what Solana supposed could be called the monster's neck, and snapped it. The head rolled away, and the monster stopped struggling. The woman then stood still, like she was listening for something.

"I can hear you in the closet. Open the door, and come out, slowly. I'm here to help." Her voice had the ring of authority. Solana noticed that she wore something that looked like night-vision goggles.

Bastian cautiously opened the closet door and clambered out. He still held the rifle.

"Ah, hello. Er, mind putting the rifle away, sir, at least for a bit? I don't want to start a shootout", the woman said.

"Of course", said Bastian. "I'll just help my wife and daughter out. They need treatment."

Another figure suddenly appeared at the woman's side. It was another human. She wore a hood over her head, and was dressed mostly in black. She had been using an optical cloak. Probably the one who'd used the initial flashbang.

"Can they both walk?"

"My wife can. My daughter broke her leg."

"That sounds like them, Shep."

"It does, doesn't it", the woman in the goggles agreed. She fished a pack of cigarettes from somewhere. She lit one and took a long drag as she waited for the Vakarians to gather.

Trianna had come out of the closet, and mother and father were attempting to get Sol to her feet. Her left leg was broken, Bastian provided her support on that side.

"Er, are you the Vakarians? Solana, Trianna and Bastian? Garrus' family?", asked the woman.

"Yes, we are", answered Bastian. "You know our son?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. I'm Elia Albarn Shepard of the Normandy. Garrus is a long-time crewmate and, well, a brother to me. We've been through a lot. I've come here to extract you and your family. I'll inform the others that you've been found." She spoke into her communicator, and said, "They're here. Javik, Garrus, converge on my position. Kasumi, join EDI and keep an eye out."

Kasumi nodded and went outside.

"Thank you for coming", said Trianna. Her voice was higher pitched than Garrus and Victus, but had the same flanging effect. She sounded tired, though.

"Least I could do for Garrus. I've dragged him into hell more times than I can care to count. And, he's decided to stay on the Normandy for this fight too." Shepard sighed. "Always has my back."

"I suspect that's where he belongs. Garrus never stayed in one place too long before he joined you. He fell apart when you disappeared. I happened to be talking to him when you reappeared, you know. Sounded utterly downcast, ready to die before that, and then magically revived a few moments later, and promised to make it to Palaven. He kept his promise too", said Bastian.

"He always liked fighting. From what I understand, you get yourself into the biggest ones", commented Solana.

Shepard took another drag on her cigarette and exhaled.

"Not my intention. It's funny- a merc on Omega put it best. Things tend to explode around me. When I chased Saren, I never dreamed I'd find evidence of the Reapers. Three months after that, I almost died, and I woke up 2 years later. After I woke up, Cerberus was the only party who believed me and was willing to do something about it. So I worked with them, and when I stormed the Collectors home world, I saw a Human Reaper embryo. I destroyed it and the Collectors. Then, I had to sacrifice all those people on Aratoht to stop the Reaper's arrival." Shepard sighed. "My squad and I already carry many scars of this war. We've been fighting it longer than everyone else."

"The measure of an individual is difficult to discern from their actions alone, Commander. From what I gather, you take what you believe is the best course. You don't give a flying fuck if people don't agree. You take on odds no one else would ever dream of considering, and to top it all off, the galaxy is relying on you to lead us out of this nightmare, to be the hero it needs", said Trianna. Shepard looked at Trianna, stunned. "Your decisions will carry a lot of weight. They will haunt you. It is the way of the world."

"Why so stunned, Commander?", remarked Bastian.

"I fear everyone expects too much of me", said Shepard, haltingly.

"Your fault completely. Garrus talked of how he'd never seen anyone fight like you. Made you out to be some kinda goddess. He once tried to describe one of your fights. You charged a Geth Colossus and broke its neck off? I laughed so hard he couldn't finish the story. It was just so incredible. Now, I'll need to admit that he was probably telling the truth."

"Well, it did happen, if my word means anything. But, what changed your mind?", asked Shepard.

"You come in here, charge a monster twice the size of a yahg, covered in metal plates, and literally beat it to death with your bare hands. I'd say if you're insane enough to try something like that, and powerful enough to actually pull it off. It's quite possible a Colossus could have also faced the same fate."

"Oh, that? I took out three or four of its friends at Menae. Garrus and Vega got them a few times, but I had to do most of the work." Shepard put her ear to the communicator. After a few moments, she said, "We need to move out. They're nearby, but need to keep an eye out. Big Reaper unit approaching." Suddenly, she seemed to remember something.

"Er, you had a broken leg, right. You need me to be carry you?"

Solana stared at her in disbelief. "Umm, turians are rather heavy, Commander", said Bastian.

"Oh no need to worry about that. I've carried turians, krogan, asari, even a varren. What I mean to say is, I'm pretty damn strong."

"Er, okay. In that, case it'll definitely be faster than supporting her along."

"Okay. How are you for thermal clips, sir?"

"Please. Call me Bastian. I'm fine for now, have enough to provide covering fire for a while."

"Good. Mrs. Vakarian, can you handle an N7 Valkyrie? It's much easier providing covering fire with an assault rifle than a pistol."

"Trianna, please. I've never heard of the gun you mentioned."

"Oh, damn it. Course you haven't. It's a prototype. Er, its heavier than an Avenger, so if you two could switch…"

"I was one of the founding members of the Blackwatch, Commander. I believe I can handle the weight."

"Oh, all right. No offence intended." Shepard took her assault rifle off her back and handed it to Trianna. "Here you are. I suggest practicing on the wall or something. Get your bearings. Here are some thermal clips. I heard you were sick. Please don't overstrain yourself. Garrus'd kill me otherwise."

"Understood, Commander. I will be in the next room, awaiting your command."

Shepard nodded, then turned her attention to Solana. "You can rest for a while. I'll need to finish this", she said, indicating her half-smoked cigarette. She leaned with her back to the wall and took a long drag from it, flicking the ashes that had collected at its end.

Solana commented, "We can't smoke, you know. I've heard though, that it's supposed to be bad for you?"

Shepard nodded. "Yeah, it isn't good for your health. But, if I actually did care about my health, I wouldn't be doing this, would I? Plus, it's a neuro stimulant, increases your alertness, and well, it's addictive."

"Fair point."

She finished her cigarette and stubbed it out. She then produced a can of beer from somewhere about her person, opened it and chugged it in one gulp. Solana watched on with interest.

"That felt good."

"You normally try to get stoned before fighting."

"Before, during and after, dear girl", said Shepard, smirking.

She seemed to consider something, then shrugged and produced another can of beer. She opened that one and chugged it down as well.

Solana could not keep the surprise from her eyes. Shepard said, "What? There's booze back on the shuttle, and I brought 2 cans for this search. Figured I might as well drink em both now. Probably no more stops on the way."

She crushed the both cans of beer and tossed them away. She asked Solana, "Okay, I'm ready. And don't worry about the drinking and smoking thing. I'm barely buzzed, you can ask Garrus about my exploits at Omega's bar if you want." Solana nodded. "Let's get prepared. You good with an SMG? Using an slow-firing pistol like the Carnifex when you'll be jolted around isn't the best idea."

"Okay, what do you have in mind."

"This", said Shepard, showing her a… Spirits, that was a Kassa Locust! "That's a Locust, isn't it", said Solana, excitedly. Shepard smiled proudly, and said, "The one and only original. Got it on a heist. Kasumi played me for it, and lost. I got to keep the original. Made several copies for the rest of the squad, though." She handed it to Solana. "Still, this is the original. And, it's mine. Don't go getting ideas I might give it to you. I've been through too much with that gun."

"I understand, Commander."

"Shepard carefully picked her up on her left side. She got up and balanced the weight the best she could, keeping her left arm tightly around Solana's middle. She armed her Paladin in her right hand.

"You okay."

"A little uncomfortable, but nothing I can't manage."

"Good. This is only for a little while."

She walked into the next room, where Trianna was coming to terms with the Valkyrie. Bastian looked on quietly.

"Okay, you got used to that rifle?"

"Well enough. Are we leaving?"

"Yup. Okay, here's how we go. The shuttle's about a mile away. Kasumi and EDI will be right outside. Sol and I will be the weakest link, so we'll push ahead with two people covering us. The other two will follow behind. Javik and Garrus are waiting further up. Got it?"

Bastian and Trianna nodded. "Okay, let's go."

They made their way up the stairs, to the front of the General's house. Kasumi and EDI were waiting further up. Kasumi looked up as they approached. "Like I said, Shep. Reaper unit down the road. They're searching houses. That big brute must have been a straggler. We spotted mostly the turian and batarian things."

"Okay, we need to make a dash for it. Palaven's streets ain't safe. Kasumi you're on my four thirty. Trianna, on my eight. Bastian and EDI, bring up the rear. Keep an eye out at all times."

"Understood", everyone chorused. Shepard nodded. "Let's go."

Solana was surprised at Shepard's speed despite carrying her. More surprised at how she wasn't being jolted all that much. They encountered no real resistance for a while, just a few stragglers here and there that were quickly dealt with. Soon, they came to a field. There was a noise in the bushes nearby. A figure emerged. "Commander, is that you?", a familiar voice said.

"Javik. You can relax. We got them out safely."

"Good. I would suggest guiding them to the shuttle. We must hold off the harvester" Shepard looked at him, brow furrowed. A noise sounded behind them. Garrus. He ran over to them. "Ah, thanks for keeping them safe, guys." He greeted his father and mother. He looked around, spied Solana on Shepard's shoulder, and went over and flicked her nose playfully. Solana reacted angrily, but Garrus jumped out of reach. Solana snarled. "Er, Sol. You mind not squirming too much." Shepard sounded amused. Solana subsided, grumbling, and satisfied herself with glowering at Garrus.

His fun over, Garrus told the rest, "Shepard, Cortez spotted a harvester on long range scanner. He said it was headed to this position. It'll be here soon. Also, Reaper unit approaching from the left."

Shepard looked to her left. She could see what Garrus meant. She thought for a while. "Hmm. Look, Cortez has the turret onboard the shuttle. A few rocket launchers and other heavy weapons. Instead of dragging ourselves into a ground battle we'll probably have to bug out from anyway, you think we can make a break for it now? We'll launch a few rockets, throw the unit off track. Keep the harvester off with the turret."

Everyone considered this in silence. "Shep's right", said Kasumi. "I would tend to agree", said Javik.

"I believe that the course suggested by Shepard has a higher probability of success with lower usage of our resources. In addition, Shepard is hardly ever wrong."

"I guess that's our best shot", said Garrus.

"Okay, let's move to the shuttle", said Shepard. They made their way to the top of the hill, behind the rocks that Cortez had parked the shuttle. They made their way in. Shepard carefully placed Solana beside Cortez. "Steve, make sure she's okay. I'm counting on you." "Understood, ma'am."

Shepard went back out and told Trianna to make sure Solana didn't aggravate her injury. Trianna made her way to the front as well. Shepard pushed the turret out and sat at the controls. "The rest of you, grab your weapon of choice. EDI, Cortez, keep an eye on that harvester. We need to make sure we aren't shot down! And hang on to something."

"Cortez, ready to go."

"Understood." The shuttle took off. "Fire at will. Reaper unit approaching." Shepard started firing off her turret. Garrus fired off two rockets, Kasumi a series of grenades. Cortez put distance in between them and the ground.

They took a breather. "Where's the harvester?"

EDI replied. "It is approaching on our eight."

Shepard looked around, trying to spot it. Suddenly, it appeared into view. "Let's go. Concentrate fire."

Shepard turned her turret around and started firing. Garrus and Kasumi followed suit. Javik seemed to have found himself a rocket launcher as well, and he joined the fray. Moments later they heard the harvester make its cry, and disintegrate with a huge blast of red energy. Shepard turned. "EDI, any other hostiles?"

"None in the immediate area."

"Okay, Cortez. Get us to the Normandy ASAP. Don't want another bird to get a sniff."

"Aye, aye."

Shepard withdrew the turret and closed the shuttle door. She went over to a cooler in the shuttle and retrieved a large can of beer. "Help youselves", she commented, before taking her place on one of the shuttle benches. Garrus and Javik got up to retrieve some alcohol for themselves. Garrus got himself some dextro-ale, and Javik got himself a bottle of wine (Since his empire was destroyed, he could not be punished with death for his actions anymore). Kasumi helped herself to a bottle of sake, while Bastian sat tight, slightly surprised at the scene around him.

Shepard sat between Garrus and Javik. On the opposite side sat Bastian, EDI and Kasumi. Shepard raised her can of beer, said, "Cheers" and opened it. She gulped down about half of the can before stopping to take a breath. Javik suddenly spoke up. "Commander, is it true you keep pets in your cabin?"

Shepard was surprised at the question. "Yes, Javik. I got a space hamster, and a load of different fishes, with a VI to manage them."

Kasumi and Garrus snorted. Shepard looked at them questioningly. "Yeah. I was with you at the time. You bought a VI to take care of your fish instead of a top of the line prototype shotgun."

"I don't use shotguns much. I've had many fish die on me cause I didn't have the time to look after em. They need so much maintenance. That VI was a damned good purchase. It looks after em and ensures none of em dies."

"Shep obsesses about her fish almost as much as her model collection."

"What? We all need hobbies", said Shepard, a tad defensively.

"Yeah, you seem to have a lot of them. Video games, fantasy books, pets, models, saving the galaxy…"

"Which reminds me. Where the hell is that copy of Dragon Age: The Inquisition you promised for doing this mission?", asked Shepard

"Oh, I left it in your room. Have fun!"

"Hey, I got that. Don't take the credit", said Kasumi, rather indignantly.

"I traded you a copy of that romance novel for it."

"The Lord of the Rings is not a romance novel, Vakarian. Atleast find out what you traded", said Kasumi.

"Well, yeah, I don't read books like that. And, Shepard's been searching for a copy of that game for a while."

"I didn't know. I just filched it off that video game store in the Citadel once. It was well hidden."

"Kasumi, I'd be careful who you say that around. Garrus' dad was C-SEC."

"Oh, er, ok. Can we all forget what I just said."

Bastian laughed. "Oh, I'm not with them anymore. And even I'd wanted to run you in, I doubt even the entire C-SEC force would want to go up against your Commander's squad. It wouldn't be a fair fight for us."

Garrus said, "For what it's worth, Dad, I'd only use concussive rounds."

"C-SEC thanks you for your sentimentality, Garrus. Though I think I'd have preferred it if you'd offered to sit the fight out."

"That'd never happen. If someone goes after anyone on this squad, they're wrong. No process needed to determine that", said Garrus.

Bastian laughed. "For once, I might have to agree, son." He turned to Shepard. "This does not mean that I approve of Spectres, of course. Look at Saren. You guys are too powerful."

Shepard nodded. "Duly noted. As far as Saren is concerned, I pity him more than I hate him. I hate him because he was weak, and gave in. Then again, indoctrination is something that is difficult to grasp. He thought he couldn't be controlled because he believed he was strong. That was his downfall. But, even before that, his actions were questionable. Once upon a time, I might have called him a monster. But, now, I don't know. He honestly seemed to believe what he did was for the greater good. Looking at what I've done, I realize I've also made a lot of similar choices. Maybe we aren't that different after all?" Bastian fancied he saw a flicker of uncertainty.

Garrus cleared his throat, and said, "That's bullshit and you know it. Saren decided that submitting to the Reapers was the only way to survive, the only way we could live. You decided that you wouldn't give in, that you would fight it. Saren was weak. You are not. That itself is enough to judge the difference between the two of you."

"I rarely ever agree with my son. However, in this case, I believe that he has, what do you humans say… hit the hammer on the nail?"

"Nail on the head, not hammer on the nail", said Kasumi.

"My apologies. He has hit the nail on the head."

"I appreciate the vote of confidence. Let's hope it isn't unfounded", said Shepard.

"You know; if this goes south, we could freeze you like they froze Javik, let the next cycle find you. Then you'd go from being merely legendary to mythical", commented Kasumi.

"They'd have to freeze you all too. Need my squad backing me up. Javik can give us tips to pass the time", said Shepard.

"Actually, to me, it didn't feel like anything more than a short nap. I was speaking to Victory and fell asleep. Suddenly, I saw your face staring down at me, and I realized how much time had passed", put in Javik.

"I wouldn't need freezing. I could perform the role Victory performed. Watch over you and make sure you were safe", commented EDI.

They continued drinking, and discussing the finer points of their plan to put themselves into cryogenic stasis and wake up the next time the Reapers came, until the shuttle reached the Normandy. Bastian wondered if he was in a madhouse.

As they were disembarking, he took Garrus aside. "Er, son, is it always like this here."

Garrus laughed heartily at his father's discomfort. "Feels unreal, doesn't it? Need some way to relieve all the stress, Dad. Talking about nothing is rather effective. Take your mind off things. You should listen in on our comm channel during missions. Give you a few laughs."

Bastian nodded, unsure.

Shepard was at the elevator. She called out, "Garrus, ask James for help with getting your sis to Dr. Chakwas. I'll come down to the med-bay later. Gotta put a call through to Wrex, invite him to the summit. Javik, EDI, Kasumi, you're all dismissed." She turned to Garrus' parents. "Mr and Mrs. Vakarian, welcome to the Normandy. Please follow Garrus to the med-bay for the time-being. I'll need to give Victus the tour too, so I'll be along later, and we can go together. If you need anything, please let Garrus or Dr. Chakwas know. Sorry if I'm being rude."

"Apologies are unnecessary, Commander. You saved our lives. We'll be with our daughter", said Bastian.

Shepard nodded and smiled. "I'll see you later, then."

-0-

"She…." A lot of static. "EDI, can you clear this up?"

"I will do my best."

The image cleared. Shepard could see her old friend, Urdnot Wrex, the leader of the krogan clans. Officially of Clan Urdnot, he had united all the clans under his banner, and had become the de-facto ruler. "Shepard, can you hear me?"

"Sure can, Wrex. How about you?"

"Clear enough. So how's the fighting been?"

"Pretty intense, Wrex. Seems like everywhere I go, something's out to get me."

"Yeah, I don't doubt it. You're the biggest threat they've faced in several million years." Wrex laughed. "Grunt told me some bits of what that Reaper leader did, what was his name…. Harbinger? Yeah, showed us the vids. Seems like you pissed them off pretty badly, ehh?"

"You could say that, Wrex."

Wrex guffawed. "Well, I've been expecting a call for a while, Shepard. Garrus, Liara, they were all getting antsy waiting for you to turn up. Good thing you did."

"Yeah, Alliance procedures. You know how it is."

"Yeah."

"Anyway, down to business, Wrex. I'd like to introduce the turian Primarch, Adrien Victus." Victus appeared onscreen, and said "Good day, Adrien Victus at your service", and saluted.

Wrex saluted back. "And Urdnot Wrex at yours."

"I hope we can help each other, Wrex, though Shepard has already warned me that you will drive a hard bargain."

"I have heard of you, Primarch, and I admire your record. I would like to say that, even though we face a threat that has destroyed countless civilizations before ours, I do believe we have a chance against them. Mostly because of the woman standing next to you."

"I do hope your faith is not unfounded, Wrex. We're having a summit, to build alliances for the war against the Reapers. It will be attended by Dalatrass Linron of the Salarian Union, Primarch Victus of the Turian Hierarchy and I'll be representing the Human Alliance, though I'm technically just consulting. The Primarch and I also speak for the Vol Protectorate, and the Elcor Military. In addition, I speak for the Hanar Illuminacy, and several other groups besides. We'd like to extend you an invitation to be part of this summit."

"I'd be happy to attend, Primarch, Shepard, as the representative of the Krogan people. However, may I note that the asari, and the quarians and geth seem to be curiously absent."

"Yes, it is a delicate situation, Wrex. For the moment, the asari are remaining on the sidelines. We don't have intel to comment on the quarian-geth situation."

"I see."

"We'll come in to pick you up on Tuchanka in the Normandy. Will that be satisfactory?"

"Sure. What's your ETA?"

"Within 2 solar days."

"I look forward to it. Goodbye, Shepard, Primarch. I certainly hope we can help each other and get through this."

"Goodbye, Wrex", said Victus and Shepard, together.

After the line had been cut, the Primarch and Shepard walked to the war room together. "Something puzzles me, Commander. It seemed like Wrex was expecting the call."

Shepard smiled at the Primarch. "Well, I've known this war was coming for a long time, Primarch. Wrex was also with me when I took out Saren and met Sovereign. It was never going to be easy getting everyone on board, so I laid the groundwork where I could. Wrex is an old and treasured friend, but I digress. For you two, the issue will be to get past old enmities…." Shepard ruffled her hair.

Victus said, "Well, he agreed to the summit. That's a positive step."

"I'll get everyone working together whether they like it or not. I have to", said Shepard, her voice hardening somewhat.

"I don't doubt it. I do hope I don't have any major disagreements with you. For the sake of my health."

Shepard grinned at the Primarch. "So, Primarch. Ready for the grand tour?"

"That sounds nice, Commander."

"We'll just get Garrus' parents from the med-bay first. I promised them a tour as well."

"Most certainly."

Shepard and Victus made their way down to the med-bay. Garrus, his parents and Solana were all there. Solana was on the operating table, being tended to by Dr. Chakwas. It seemed like the doctor was finished.

"How does it look, doc?"

"Nothing a bone weave isn't capable of fixing. I'd recommend that she rest for three days, while it heals. You can talk to her now- I only needed to use a local anesthetic. She'll need pain meds in an hour."

"Thank you so much, doctor. We are in your debt", said Trianna.

"Just doing my job. Oh, and you'll be here for a while, Mrs. Vakarian. Better get used to the med-bay."

"Er, why exactly?"

"Professor Mordin Solus passed me your medical files. A shipment of your medication was already delivered to my med-bay. We will continue your treatment until such time you are on the ship. After that, I will personally ensure you are placed in the care of Dr. Fraelik at Huerta Memorial. Mordin tells me he was one of the best at Helos before they evacuated to help the war effort."

Trianna's face fell, almost comically.

"Aww, don't be like that, Mum. You get to keep me company", said Solana.

"Thank you, doctor. Forgive my wife's rudeness; it's just that she doesn't like doctors very much, having spent much of the last 3 years in a hospital."

"I can imagine. We do tend to be all dreary and dull", said Dr. Chakwas, laughing. "I'll be in the mess hall if anything comes up."

After Dr. Chakwas had left, Shepard glanced over at Solana. "Well, Sol, you okay?"

"Yeah. I closed my eyes through most of it. Hate needles, scalpels, any medical instrument."

"Join the club", said Shepard, laughing.

Something seemed to occur to Primarch Victus. "Ah yes, Commander. Would you like me to transfer Lieutenant Vakarian to your command?"

"Like I said when I made the request, it depends on LC Vakarian, Primarch. She certainly would be a valuable addition, but let's face it, being around me is tempting fate. Every mission brief that gets sent to me comes just because no one else can or will take it on. I don't make a habit of asking people to be a part of my squad. I can't force them to take that risk." She turned to address Solana. "Sol, if you want to be a part of the Normandy, there's a place here for you. However, it's your decision."

Everyone turned their gaze on Solana.

She considered for a moment, and finally said, "It's an honor that I'd be considered good enough to be a part of this crew, a part of what is easily the most accomplished squad in the galaxy, under the woman who is probably the only hope we have of surviving this."

She fell silent, and then went on. "However, I'd like to know what you and my brother were up to in the past three years or so. I want details. About you, the one who's leading this war effort. About G, the brother I can hardly recognize now. Even my parents deserve to know. So, if I'm going to join your squad, I'll need to know all of it."

There was silence in the room. Shepard then sighed, and said, "A valid request." She fished out a cigarette and lit it. She took a drag on it, exhaled, and began. "About what I did before I met Garrus, before I became a Spectre, I'll have Liara give you access to old mission reports, debriefs, whatever you need. I'll also answer any questions you might have. As to what happened after Garrus came along- I guess that's what you're interested in and it's a long story. We'll be here a while if I need to tell it."

"Actually, Commander. I'd like to hear it too", said Victus. "If you have some free time, then I'd be honored to listen to it."

"As will we. I have heard only bits of it from Garrus", said Bastian, indicating himself and his mate.

Shepard considered for a moment, then sighed. "All right. Might as well make ourselves comfortable. Garrus, you'll need to fill in any bits I miss out."

"Of course, Shepard."

So, for the next hour or so, Shepard talked about how she took down Saren, the events on Therum, Noveria, Feros, Virmire, meeting Sovereign, the death of Ashley Williams, the journey through the mu-relay to Ilos, Vigil, the Conduit, the events on the Citadel, and finally, the destruction of the first Reaper, the supposed vanguard of their destruction, caused by the downfall of Saren's monstrous form. She then went on to how she almost died, and was asleep for two years as Cerberus rebuilt her, and her mission to investigate the activities of the Collectors. Garrus then explained his sojourn on Omega, his alter ego, Archangel, his victories, and his ultimate downfall. He talked about how he was close to death, but was saved miraculously by Shepard. Shepard then went on with the story, telling them how she gathered a team of talented specialists, and snippets of the adventures they had. She talked of Horizon, the Collector Ship, the derelict Reaper, Legion, and his revelations about Geth, how he'd become a valued member of their squad, the Collector ship attack, the crew's abduction, and their subsequent journey through the Omega-4 Relay and the crew's rescue. Shepard talked about Harbinger, the human Reaper embryo, the destruction of the Collector home world, with no casualties to the crew, and subsequent escape. She then went on to her actions in regard to the Alpha Relay incident, the destruction of Aratoht, her subsequent orders to each of her former crew, and her so called-arrest at the hands of the Alliance. She'd never stood trial, and spent most of her time providing information on the oncoming invasion, and suggesting ways to prepare for it. Then, the more recent stories, the recovery of the device blueprints on Mars, Cerberus' actions, the meeting with the unhelpful-as-always Council and their retrieval of Victus on Menae. Shepard took particular pleasure in shredding good Councilor Sparatus' image at every available opportunity. Garrus smirked each time she tore into him.

Shepard stopped, and indicated that the story was done. Solana came out of her trance. She'd been so engrossed in the story, that she'd not felt the stabbing pains up her left leg. "Ah, damn it. This is painful."

Shepard looked at the time. "It's been three hours. Wonder why the doctor didn't come in. I'll get her to give you your pain meds."

Shepard found the doctor and came back with her. "I was surprised you didn't realize earlier. Shepard must be really good at telling stories", she commented, wryly. She administered the pain medication and Solana found herself feeling much better.

"Thank you", she said.

Dr. Chakwas nodded. "If you need anything else, I'll be in the mess hall."

After she left, everyone looked over at Solana, expectantly.

Solana solemnly saluted and said, "I'm staying here. I will fight by your side, protect our friends, and follow you to any hell you deem necessary."

Shepard smiled and walked upto Solana. She held out her hand. "Welcome aboard, Solana Vakarian. Good to have you on the team." Solana took Shepard's proffered hand and shook it firmly.

Then, Shepard turned to Primarch Victus and Mr. and Mrs. Vakarian. "Well, if you're still up for it, we can have that tour. Garrus can watch over Sol and make sure she doesn't get upto any mischief."

"Of course, Commander", replied Victus. Garrus' parents nodded as well. "If you'll follow me." Shepard led the three turians out the med-bay leaving Garrus alone with Solana.

Garrus walked over and sat on the chair beside Solana's bed. He considered her for a moment, and started laughing. "What?", asked Solana, a trifle indignantly.

"You don't know what you've let yourself in for. I've been with Shepard a long time. Each time I think she can get no crazier, she proves me wrong. She is a force of nature, Sol, but you'll see that soon enough."

"I've seen some evidence of it. She literally brawled with one of those big Reaper monsters."

"A brute? Big, metal plates everywhere, heavy arm it swings around?"

Solana nodded.

"Ha, there were four of em at the camp we got the Primarch out of. Vega and I dealt with one, Shepard took the other three out. Victus could barely believe his eyes."

"I got the feeling she was extremely reckless."

"An understandable but misleading impression. She's deliberate, manipulative, cold, ruthless even. She takes a lot of risks, but they rarely fail to pan out. Frankly, I've never seen a better tactician, or stronger warrior."

Solana considered. "She has serious ability. I'd say she was pretty powerful even before all the cybernetic augmentation."

"Oh, definitely. Her biotics were always powerful, she always had a head for combat tech, and she can handle any gun, though she seems to prefer the faster firing ones. After Miranda rebuilt her, well, let's just say that she's practically invincible."

Solana frowned at Garrus. "G, are you two… you know, together?"

Garrus fell off his chair. He looked at his sister, astonished. She looked at him impassively, waiting for his answer.

Garrus got up and took his place on his chair. "No, Sol. I love Shepard, but not in that way. She's my best friend, my mentor, like a big sister who's always there for me. Despite how attractive she is, I'd never look at her romantically. Besides, she has Liara."

Solana laughed. "Just pulling your leg, G. Fun to see you all flustered."

She grew thoughtful. "Besides, knowing you, I'd have said that the quarian mechanic… Tali, was it? I'd have guessed you'd hold a torch for her." She looked at Garrus, expecting a rebuttal. Garrus only shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Solana put a hand to her mouth. "Damn, you do have a thing for Tali, don't you G? Spirits, are you two an item."

Garrus looked as Solana reproachfully. "No, Sol. I am not an 'item' with anyone. Look, why are you so interested in my sex life?"

"Tali sounds nice", Solana mused. "I suppose I'll meet her in due time. Then, I'll tell her stories of Garrus when he was younger and actually took his duties as an older brother seriously." She smirked at Garrus.

Garrus looked mortified. Then, she said, "Look, G, I'll help you out with her if you want. Just ask."

Solana mused on her situation. The coming few months were going to be very interesting.


	5. The Meathead meets the Baroness

Set before ME3, when Vega is assigned to guard Shepard on the brig. Just an imagining of their first meeting.

-The Meathead meets The Baroness-

Well, he was finally going to meet her. His idol, his hero... his god. Or goddess, if you wanted to nitpick. Elia Albarn Shepard, the Butcher of Torfan, the First Human Spectre, the Savior of the Citadel, the Destroyer of the Collectors (though not many knew that one – James believed that was easily her best work, though), and well, someone who could come back from the dead too. If Anderson and Hackett were to be believed, she was the galaxy's only hope of survival against the Reapers. Not just humanity. The whole fucking galaxy-the Krogan, the Turians, the Asari, everyone!

Other less noteworthy accomplishments included completing the N7 program in record time - 67 days from receiving the order to report to the academy and actually getting the commendation. James' mind had done a double take when he read that. 67 DAYS! Goddamnit! The previous low had been 252, and this woman had done it in almost a fourth of that time. The fact that she was the youngest ever N7 operative seemed secondary. Anderson was the one who oversaw the last mission she did as an N6. Personally fought by her side. And realized there was no way he, or anyone for that matter, could compare to her in combat-her ability with guns, tech attacks and biotic fields, her tactical acumen, her cold, calculated ruthlessness, and her insatiable bloodlust on the battlefield. Anderson had even given Vega the highly classified report, where his personal comments read "The N7 program hardly seems to challenge Shepard. Just calling her N7 and putting her on par with everyone else part of the club is an insult to her ability. However, she is no common soldier. She doesn't have any particular respect for chain of command. She has a code of justice best described as vigilante. I suggest that she be placed under COs who give her a wide berth and operational freedom; otherwise, well, things will explode. The Council is right to have their eye on her."

James smirked. Anderson would probably laugh if he read his old report. His words had been prophetic. Things had exploded.

He went on to Shepard's personal history. Spacer kid, grew up on starships. Accidental exposure to eezo when she was a kid. Mother was a big-shot in the Alliance. Father was a soldier too, but he had died on a classified operation when she had been seven. IQ scores off the charts. High enough to be certified genius. Mother hadn't been around much during her childhood. A pair of twins were her best friends growing up. Enlisted in the Alliance at 18, in her own words, 'to explore and discover the galaxy beyond- the future was out there'.

Vega also spotted a note from Anderson, stating that the record was fabricated. Apart from the twins being her friends growing up. Both the twins enlisted with her, and died two years later on a mission out near the Terminus Systems. A slaver raid on a human colony. They were stationed at that colony with seven others, including the twins. Six of them had died. She had survived, but there were unconfirmed reports that she had used a terminally ill human patient at the colony as a suicide bomber to flush out the slavers. A year later, she was chosen for the N7 program and received the commendation not long after. Many of her missions were classified. Those that were not always seemed to follow the same pattern. The opposing forces decimated; the Alliance teams relatively intact. She hadn't lost a man under her command. Then the Skyllian Blitz at Elysium. She hadn't been there then, but she was Major Kyle's XO on the Alliance's retaliatory strike on Torfan. The place she had obtained her epithet, 'The Butcher of Torfan'. 57 marines went in, just 14 came out. Though, the report did state that Shepard led a small infiltration squad of nine in the operation. None of those directly under her command had died. The larger force, led by Major Kyle had suffered all the casualties. 600 well armed slavers in entrenched positions. It was practically suicide anyway. James flipped to a report by one of Shepard's team, a Tech Specialist by the name Tanya Roe, her squad's second-in-command. Their infiltration team had fought their way to the facility's large armaments, and then proceeded to disable the anti-aircraft cannons, the missile launchers, the assault turrets, all of the heavy hitters. Major Kyle's group seemed to be getting along okay until they came upon an empty room, which housed a giant overload field. The marines who had taken up positions inside the room instantly had their weapons fried. Batarians then started shooting them from their perches near the top of the opposite side. The ten fortunate enough not to have entered the room frantically called for backup and aid from the infiltration team. Shepard coldly declined. Her reasoning was that the mission still stood – the infiltration team needed to free the people the slavers had captured and then, destroy the slavers. Coming over to Major Kyle's position would be a waste of the hard-won advantage they had, and a fool's errand, besides. The men inside the room were dead anyway. They couldn't use their weapons. No use allowing more to be slaughtered.

James frowned. A hard decision. But, the right one. The chances of saving any of the men inside the room had to be close the zero. Her team could still carry on and finish the mission, ensuring the sacrifice wouldn't be in vain. Moreover, wasn't it the Major's fault in the first place for being so stupid? Still, James didn't believe he could have made that decision. Not even after Fehl Prime.

James continued. Shepard led her team through waves of Batarian forces. Tanya's report detailed how Shepard had probably killed twice as many slavers as the entire rest of the squad put together. One of the comments she made tickled James. "She probably didn't need us, not really. Most of us got the feeling that we were just slowing her down. Probably would have finished up much sooner if she'd been put in-charge."

They got to the containers in which the slaves were kept. The Batarian commander gassed one container, killing over fifty captured civilians. Then, he asked Shepard to surrender. She responded by hitting two colleagues standing by his side with a biotic warp field so powerful they just disintegrated. No sooner had the Batarian commander moved to flip another switch to gas another container, did his head explode. Lesker, the sniper on their team had found his mark. They made quick work of the Batarians and released the prisoners. They told them to wait where they were for extraction.

Several slavers lay their weapons down and begged for mercy. About seventy of them. They walked the slavers over to the room where the overload field had decimated the other squad. Major Kyle looked dazed. Only five others on his team had made it. Shepard looked around, and asked "Who's the second in command here?" A petite Japanese woman stood up and saluted Shepard. "I am". "Ah! Lieutenant Fujita. Ask two of your men to help Kyle up." She looked over at the Major with some contempt. "The rest of you, come with us. We'll be lining the slavers up in this room", she said, indicating the room with the overload field, the grave of 43 marines of the Systems Alliance. Fujita quickly complied. Shepard and the rest lined the Batarians up against the far wall of the room. Shepard raised her hand, and asked everyone to fire at will when she brought it down. Tanya's report detailed how willingly they obliged. The 70 odd Batarians were butchered in a matter of seconds. Shepard led the remnants of the team out, two marines supporting her CO, who had fainted after they massacred the surrendering Batarians. Before reaching the extraction point, she coolly told Tanya, who was walking by her side, "Tanya, please fill in a report of what happened here. Be objective. Tell them what happened. Don't show it to me. Give it to Hackett. I have neither the time nor the energy to be debriefed. I'm just done." Shepard gave her a crooked smile, and apparently disappeared at one of the stations their starship stopped to refuel at on the way. She left a memo stating that she had some business to take care of, and that she'd go to the Arcturus Station at a later point.

There was a note attached the end of the report, written by Admiral Hackett. At the debrief, Admiral Hackett had asked each of the squad whether they would work with the Commander again. None of them hesitated in answering. They would bloody well die for her if she wanted it. Hackett signed off his note with "Just as I thought."

-0-

James was tired. He looked at the time. Shit! He'd been reading old mission reports for almost 4 hours! He had never been able to read anything beyond an hour before. He got off the couch he had been lying on and stretched. The brig was quite quiet. There were only two people on the brig in total, Admiral Anderson, and him. The Admiral was inside in the study. It was a homely brig-comfortable and well-furnished. The pilot of the Normandy, one of Shepard's oldest associates, Jeff Moreau would be flying this ship. The Normandy had already been surrendered to the Alliance for retrofits. Shepard, however, had declined to surrender herself at the same time, stating she had business to take care of. Anderson and Hackett requested her to report to the brig as soon as she was able. Requested was the word. It had weight. It indicated that Elia Albarn Shepard was treated with reverence everywhere, even legends of one of the galaxy's strongest navies. She'd been shouting about the Reapers a long time. Few people had believed her. She had repelled them almost single-handedly once, destroyed their most powerful thralls, and delayed them with that business on Aratoht. And now, in a few months, the galaxy would be set aflame.

Every race in the galaxy respected her. And, for good reason. To her, all life was of equal value. To her, it didn't matter which race or species somebody belonged to. Well, almost every race. The Batarians were stupid little fucks. On her mission to defeat Saren and the Geth, she had had a Krogan Battlemaster, Urdnot Wrex, now their chief, leader, king; a Turian Sharpshooter and Combat Engineer, Garrus Vakarian, reportedly the leader of the Archangel group which had waged a successful but pyrrhic war on Omega's merc bands; an Asari Scientist, Liara T'Soni, rumored also to be one of the most powerful information brokers in the world, if not the most powerful; and an exceptionally gifted Quarian Machinist called Tali'Zorah nar Rayyah, later Tali'Zorah vas Neema and finally, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. And, when she had assaulted the Collectors beyond the Omega-4 Relay, she had added ten others to her group of trusted, bloodthirsty, highly competent, completely ruthless group of killers, all of whom were willing to die for her, all of them completely loyal. James had read the files- Miranda Lawson, a Cerberus Operative who had been obsessively Cerberus, and six months with Shepard had changed her into an equally obsessively anti-Cerberus force; Jacob Taylor, ex-Alliance soldier, competent, and nothing much else besides; Thane Krios, a notorious Drell assassin and marksman, probably the very best in the galaxy; Kasumi Goto, a master thief, saboteur and infiltrator, again probably the very best in the galaxy; Zaeed Massani, a well-known bounty hunter and mercenary with a penchant for succeeding on every mission he ever took up; Samara, an Asari warrior, part of an ancient order called the Justicars; Legion, a Geth (James couldn't wrap his head around this one, Shepard was an enigma, all right); Mordin Solus, an overly brilliant Salarian Scientist; Jack, considered by the Alliance to be the most powerful human biotic ever, possibly barring Shepard herself; and Grunt, a Krogan warrior, rumored to be the 'Perfect Krogan', the first in generations to have taken down a thresher maw during his Rite, and powerful enough to be on Shepard's team (Seriously? Those things were huge! Again, James bet Shepard had something to do with it. Also, it came as no surprise to James that the previous Krogan to have done the Thresher Maw feat had been Wrex. Maybe, Shepard found her Krogan at the same gift shop?)

Reading everything the files said about Shepard, James couldn't understand how she'd done it. He probably never would-he wasn't destined for the sort of greatness that his idol was. Come to think of it, she was probably one of those heroes of ages, the ones which came along in fantasy novels with stories about how one person stood up to throw down an overwhelmingly oppressive force.

-0-

He was near its entrance. Shepard would be there any minute. Suddenly he heard a noise beyond the room he was in, in the pantry. Anderson probably taking a break. James liked Anderson. He was the sort of soldier who could mentor his charges and teach them well. However, he always seemed a little sad talking about Shepard. He wondered why.

Presently, he decided he wouldn't mind a cup of hot chocolate himself. He walked into the pantry. What he saw stopped him short. A woman, about 5'8" tall, with a well-toned physique, stood there. Her hair was worn short, James recognized it. It was that cyberbabe hairstyle that was the rage, since that blockbuster flick last year, starring Anglia Thomas. 'Inception', was it? Something to do with dreams and waking. James had enjoyed the film, but he didn't see what all the fuss was about. Her hair was a bright red, with purple streaks here and there. She was measuring cocoa into a cup, and a kettle of milk was boiling on the stove. James stood there gaping at her. Who was she?

"Lieutenant Vega, I presume? Took you long enough to realize I was here. Anderson was sleeping."

"Er, yes. Um.. Who are you? How'd you get in?"

"I'm Shepard, Elia Albarn Shepard. But I'd prefer not to be called by my second name. My first name, you don't get to use yet. Any other nickname you think of, you're free to use."

She sat down. "I saw you reading some reports. No offence, but you don't look much like the reading type. A six foot tall male, obviously spends a lot of time in the gym, Alliance commando, through and through. Interesting Anderson would pick you for this drag. You look like one of those blue-eyed boys who'll make himself a bright future in the Alliance. Follow orders, be the soldier they want you to be." She gave a short laugh.

"I suppose something must have happened to you. Hmm… two possibilities open themselves up. You were involved with the Collectors somehow. The Alliance had that station, where was it.. yes, Fehl Prime attacked by them, and some vital intel was sent my way by Hackett. Maybe in return for the situations I took care of for him. Mordin appreciated the data. Helped him create a counter-measure much faster. Yes, onto the other possibility. You think I'm some kind of hero and want to follow in my footsteps. Hackett and/or Anderson said that my kind of greatness left a huge trail of destruction in its wake. You must have had some scars from some mission, and they made you an offer to join the N7 program. Now, they see a way to help you realize that the soldier you were meant to be isn't me. Can't rightly blame them. You get to guard the great Commander Shepard, so Batarians don't murder her, and the Council doesn't convict her for being a rogue Spectre and a mass murderer. In return, you see what greatness looks like. Just a lot of cynicism, bitterness, and an individual who is numb to any horror. Pretty basically, a highly damaged piece of goods." She gave a short, derisive laugh.

She looked up enquiringly at the flabbergasted marine. His silence seemed a satisfactory answer. She wore a black t-shirt and a hoodie on top of it, and brown slacks. Her eyes were weird, but James thought they were beautiful. A deep, piercing blue covering a glowing red tinge at the centre. Her face was covered in scars. They glowed red. They complemented her perfectly. They showed her character, her strength, her resolve, and also her compassion, and her regret. To him, her face reflected her greatness. The fact that this was a beautiful, and terrible, being.

Her glance lingered on him a moment longer. The milk started boiling. She turned the stove off and poured it into her mug. She sat herself down on the table and started sipping. Presently, she said, "Or maybe both? Hmm, you would be perfect." She contemplated her mug, and continued reading her datapad. After a while, when she noticed James still stood rooted to the spot, she said, more kindly, "Well, James, are you going to stand there gaping at me all day? I suppose there are some things that you want to ask me. You WERE reading the reports on my old missions when I sneaked in."

James seemed to hesitate. "Take a seat. Get yourself a mug and something to drink. Relax!" Then, her brow furrowed. "I'm not going to kill you. I don't randomly go around shooting people down. If you're afraid of that happening, that is." She looked over at him expectantly.

Wordlessly, James poured himself a mug of hot chocolate and took his place across from her. Apparently satisfied that she hadn't paralyzed him unintentionally, she had continued to read. Presently, he broke the silence with, "About that terminally ill patient, did he ask to be the suicide bomb?"

She looked up from her datapad. Slowly, deliberately, she took a sip from her mug. She settled her gaze up on him. James found himself flinching, slightly. It seemed like she was looking into his soul, weighing him mentally.

She said, "Interesting. Maybe you aren't such a meathead after all. You don't appear particularly concerned that I got through this brig's front door with that entire luggage", she motioned to a pile of suitcases, crates and bags lying at the corner of the room, "and you didn't notice at all. In fact, I've been sitting here happily reading my datapad for two hours. Before that, I found Anderson asleep. Someone could have assassinated the good Admiral. Of course, I would have hunted the bastard who did that down and given him a slow and painful death. Before that, I would have broken your spine with a biotic kick."

"You care about Anderson that much?"

"As a friend, he's one of my oldest. He's always believed in me and trusted me, sometimes to his disappointment, but he got that I would never be the soldier he believed I could be. So yes, personal stake is rather high." She gave him a crooked grin. Her crooked grins were going to become a big part of their interactions together.

"Don't look at me. I'm just a normal soldier. Got regular Commando training and nothing much else. I don't have the head to learn tech and no biotic inclinations to speak of. I'm a good commando, though, maybe the best in the Alliance, if Anderson is to be believed. I can use every gun there is, though I excel at medium to close range. As to how you got through, well, all I can say is, there is no shame in being outwitted by the Shepard. Your IQ was off the charts, they even put you through Infiltrator and Vanguard training, just because they couldn't decide what to do with you. You were that good. Equally lethal with guns, tech attacks and biotic fields. You were more talented than the best engineers, more adept than the most powerful biotics, despite being an L3, and outstripped any other commando in combat. A one-woman army, pretty much. I guessing you used a field to get your luggage in, and optical camouflage to get by. Hacking the lock doesn't take much, and the best techs don't make a noise. Though, I'd be interested to know why you went through all that."

Shepard considered him for a moment. "Impressive. Though some of the stuff on my profile will be wrong. For example, I don't weigh 160 pounds like it says on the profile anymore. And, well, Miranda outfitted my body with prototype L7 implants, far more powerful than the L5s even. Cerberus is crazily well-funded. Helps attract some of the best specialists."

"L7? What about L6? Why the jump?"

"Oh, Cerberus already implanted the L6s into a few of their operatives. They had the L5 technology perfected 2 years ago, and L6s lasted about 15 months. They verified that the L7s didn't cause any debilitating problems before putting it in me. Not that it would, of course. I have the constitution of a yahg with synthetic implants. I could break down walls of metal with my bare hands. All these cybernetics, I can't decide whether I love or hate Miranda for them." She looked up to see James' look of astonishment. She went on, undeterred. "My brain is still my own, though. They didn't dare change that. I was mostly dead-Miranda rebuilt me. So, in case you're wondering whether the Commander Shepard who was the Butcher of Torfan and destroyed Saren and Sovereign was the same as the one who destroyed the Collector homeworld, and then decided to destroy an entire Batarian system, just for good measure, then the answer is yes. I am me, and I was her. And I will go on being her. Or me." She gave another short, derisive laugh.

The two sat in silence for a time.

Shepard then pulled out a pack of cigarettes, Omega Lights by the looks of it. She lit one and offered the pack to Vega. Vega looked surprised, and shook his head. She shrugged and put it back. She pulled an ashtray from the kitchen table and kept it close at hand. She took a long drag from it and exhaled slowly.

Then, she said, "About the suicide bomb incident. The boy was terminally ill. Never asked him what he had, but that didn't matter. Found him hiding behind some crates near where the slavers had taken up positions. I asked him what the hell he was doing. He said he wanted to help. He was dying. Barely eight or nine and he said he had less than 6 months to live. He wanted to get revenge for his friends. The slavers had massacred his classroom, all his classmates, and Miss Alison, his homeroom teacher. He wanted to get back at the slavers for them. And, I had an idea. So I made him a rudimentary suicide bomb. I had enough material around for decent ordnance. I gave him a sedative, told him it wouldn't hurt anymore, that he would just drift off. He thanked me for the chance. He was happy. Happy that he was able to derive some meaning from his short life. That his death might mean people were avenged and more people survived. Thinking back, I wonder sometimes. What meaning can anyone derive from retribution? Anyhow, I cloaked his form and then lifted him biotically to the middle of the compound where the slavers were entrenched. Placed him squarely in the middle. And detonated him. Most of the slavers died. Some were wounded. Others too surprised. I was the only one there. Eight of us had started the assault, only two of us had survived. The other guy who survived, Kristoff was sitting near some crates with a broken leg, protecting a group of kids, sniping anything in sight. I took out the remaining slavers and well, that was that. I put everything in my report. It went all the way up to Hackett and Storm. And that was where the legend began, I suppose."

James sat, entranced by the woman's narrative. She betrayed almost no emotion, though he fancied he heard an occasional tremor when she spoke about the boy. He said, "Thanks for telling me. Also, about your weight?"

"You don't normally ask women about their age and weight, if I'm not wrong", stated Shepard.

"You brought it up."

"Fair enough. Last count, I weighed exactly 527 pounds."

"527? Holy Mother… How the hell do you weigh that much?"

Shepard stubbed her cigarette on the ashtray. She lit another, and then went on.

"Like I said, cybernetics, getting rebuilt. Not that I'm complaining about the upgrades, though. I heal amazingly fast, my combat skills, tech ability and biotic power have been amplified. I'll probably live as long as an Asari, if not much longer." She shrugged. "That is, in normal course. Since my life is anything but normal, I suppose it could go wrong sooner rather than later. Ah well, it helps that I've almost died once. Gives you perspective, that."

"Er, thanks for sharing. Umm okay, so I gather you aren't big on the Alliance and such."

"The Alliance is a political system, much like the Turian meritocracy or the Quarian Conclave and Admiralty. It happens to be a system that so far, has survived. It is no way near perfect, just as organic life was never built to be perfect. I don't particularly support it or oppose it. As long as they don't have a problem with me, I'll stay out of their way. If they need my help on something, I generally provide it to them, within reasonable bounds. This is one such example. I'm playing along with Anderson and Hackett because well, it seems the best course of action at this point."

"But, you enlisted in the military, became a soldier. Took the oath."

She took a long drag from her cigarette at this. She exhaled slowly, then considered before replying.

"I died in all the records. Not just once, too. Today, I'm still officially KIA. The Collectors, Aratoht, they were both taken out by a ghost. Alliance is trying to convince everyone I'm dead. They're having some trouble. As to your comment, I'll tell you this, Lieutenant. Oaths mean nothing to dead people. In any case, I never took it, but I guess that's a story you might learn later. But, when I was alive, and in the Alliance, I stuck to it the best I could. I cut corners now and then, but never went directly against it. I had contempt for incompetence, and openly voiced it. Anderson and Hackett realized it early. Put me under COs who gave me a wide berth. Until Kyle. The little idiot didn't have a clue what to do when things went to hell. He was weak. He thought he had the best plan. Shows how much he knew. They took notice after that. Pretty much under Anderson's command from then on. He tried to lead me on a more mild path. My vigilante-ism, as he called it, troubled him. It didn't work too well. But, there were very few times we argued, and I grew to respect him for his beliefs and his conviction. Plus, he was pretty deft with a rifle. Worked with Hackett when he was Captain too, calmly took out a platoon of mercs out in the operation. Later, I became a Spectre and I was no more beholden to the Alliance or obligated to follow its rules. I still helped whenever I could. Hackett gave me the most interesting missions to do."

Shepard paused, and took a sip of her drink. It wasn't 'hot' chocolate anymore. More like lukewarm. She liked the slight change in flavor, though.

She went on, "I suppose it doesn't hurt to tell you this either. The Turians, Salarians, Asari, even the Volus, all had classified files on me. Ever since that business with the suicide bomb. They had my file classified the same level as Hackett's and Anderson's. I was surprised myself. It made a certain kind of sense though. I suppose I was a loose cannon. A dangerous loose cannon."

James asked her, "But how'd you know this?"

"Well, my operations are under nobody's jurisdiction. And I have several powerful friends. Let's just leave it at that. And now, does this place have any booze?"

James nodded, as he opened the refrigerator and took out two cans of beer.

-0-

James reflected on his day, as he lay in his bunk bed. He had met his idol. And she had been as enigmatic as he had expected. He also sensed some degree of fatigue. She had seen and done so much, handled all sorts of problems. Thinking back to what he knew of her, he could understand why she sounded cynical and bitter. She'd been warning everyone of the Reapers for years. No one had listened. There would have been casualties in any case. Only now, there would be a lot more. It also surprised him that she smoked heavily, and drank like a fucking tank.

He hoped he could be at her side in battle when the Reapers hit. He was James Vega, the hotshot commando. And he was going to make sure he went wherever she went. She got into the biggest fights, destroyed threats that spanned galaxies. And, saving the galaxy did sound like the kind of story he'd like to tell his grandchildren.


	6. The Thief and her Treasure

-The thief and her treasure-

She drew her hood and waited on her perch on Level 27 of Zakera Ward. She was waiting to see if Cerberus really was telling the truth. That Elia Albarn Shepard, Savior of the Citadel, the first human Spectre, the Butcher of Torfan, (she thought) one of the heroes of the Skyllian Blitz (she'd read the reports, and conspiracy theorist that she was, fitted the evidence to support her belief), was really alive. She'd made all the preparations, hacked that advertisement board downstairs. Made sure she could see her clearly when she came around. Suddenly, she spied a well-armed group below. They were led by a woman, a red-head, hair worn in the 'Cyberbabe' style. It had suddenly become all the rage for human teenagers, ever since Anglia Thomas had worn it in the blockbuster flick, 'Inception' six months previously. It had been well-received by all audiences, with Thomas' portrayal as the leader of a specialized band of misfits, which included a salarian, a turian, a volus, two krogan, an asari and a quarian. Possibly why it had done well. Multi-species cast and galactic harmony and all that jazz. Anyhow, the woman had an aura about her, which marked her as one who had done and seen many things, and that she was not to be trifled with. An aura of power. Kasumi Goto had to be good at reading the little things. That was how she had become such a successful thief, probably the best in the galaxy. Her figure was attractive, by any standards. Several men, and women glanced at her appreciatively as she walked by. She couldn't make out her face though. Or her eyes. A person's eyes always told you a lot about them. In this case, the woman wore something that looked like night-vision goggles. Wait, it couldn't be. An umbra visor! Kasumi had seen prototypes of it lying around during one of her jobs at a Rosenkov Materials facility. She remembered being fascinated by its design.

The woman was followed by a krogan. The krogan was obviously new to the Citadel- he was turning his head and looking in every direction, drinking in the sights. The red-haired woman with her cyberbabe hair stepped purposefully up to the ad-board.

"Um, Kasumi Goto?" asked Shepard. Kasumi heard her voice, and knew she was going to get along with her. She decided to have some fun. She turned on her omni-tool vidcam. She could see Shepard on her screen. "Commander Shepard? I believe I am to offer you my assistance to save the galaxy?" she asked playfully.

"That's the gist of it, Ms. Goto"

"Please, call me Kasumi. Now would you like to tell me the password?"

"Certainly. 'Silence is golden'."

"Hmm, you played along. Not that hardcore or badass, I see. I think we'll get on quite well, Commander."

Shepard gave Kasumi a lopsided smirk. "Oh you're gonna change your opinion soon enough. I'm as badass as they come. About getting along, I'd tend to agree. And please, I don't have a military rank, and I'd rather not be reminded of it."

"So should I call you Elia or Albarn?"

Shepard frowned a little. "Yeah, and my second name is off-limits too"

"Okay, Shep. So did the Illusive Man tell you about the help I needed? I didn't give him too many details."

"The Illusive Man didn't even give me those details. Just sent a dossier, said you're a master thief, one of the best in the galaxy. That about right?"

Kasumi smiled mischievously. "Just 'one of the best'. No way, Shep. I'm the best. Not the most famous. Watch my step to keep it that way."

"Yeah, I could use a few lessons in that."

"What?"

"Not being famous. It does help at times, though. Mercs get scared once in a while. Slink away without question. Saves me a lot of thermal clips."

"I can well imagine."

"So you're Japanese? What's with the Medieval looking costume?"

"Yup, family's originally from Kyoto, don't remember much. And the costume has a story of its own. Ask me later. You may get it out of me."

"I'll keep that in mind. So er… down to business?"

Kasumi was surprised. Shepard was so easy to talk to.

"About the help I need? It's a heist"

"Yes, that. But first, how can you be sure that I am me. That is, I am the one you were supposed to meet. That Cerberus wasn't lying."

"Oh, I read people extremely well. Side effect of being a thief, and perfecting the art as I have. There's something about you. An aura. Like you've seen and done things most people couldn't imagine. I knew straight off that you were the real deal."

"Good to know. So come on down. I'm exploring the Citadel, seeing how its changed. Might drop by at Anderson's office later. For old time's sake. Or, if you don't feel like coming along, head over to the Normandy. Make yourself comfortable."

"Aren't you curious about the heist I want to pull?"

"I am. But, I'm guessing this isn't the best place to discuss it? I rather fancy I look like a bloody ass talking to a damn advertisement. Enough people are questioning my sanity. I don't particularly want to provide validation."

"Oh, your sanity is non-existent. Even you should know that."

Shepard considered that for a bit. "Well, you're coming along on this little jaunt too."

"Oh, I just said you're insane. Never said it was a bad thing. I approve. Insane is interesting."

Shepard smiled at that.

-0-

Kasumi found the lounge comfortable. Drinks were close at hand. Shepard had even requisitioned some of Kasumi's favorite amazake drink. Kasumi had reacted with no small amount of delight when she saw it at the bar. She'd poured herself a glass and settled down with one of her favorite romance novels. A while later, Shepard walked in. She made her way to the bar. She poured herself a generous measure of a red drink. Noverian rum, Kasumi guessed. Shepard diluted the alcohol with some water and settled down on one of the comfortable chairs. She took a sip from the glass and settled down to read something from her datapad. Presently, she said, "So you do like sake."

"How'd you know?"

"I didn't. Lucky guess. I enjoy sake every now and then, too. Figured it wouldn't go to waste even if you didn't like the stuff."

"Very shrewd."

"So you've claimed this for your personal quarters?"

"I suppose. You did say to make myself comfortable."

"I suppose I did. I wouldn't have minded this room though. My room is a lot more spacious, and it has its own washroom. But, the booze isn't as close at hand. Ah, well, maybe I can filch some for my personal supply cache."

The two women settled down to companionable silence.

Presently, Kasumi asked, "That is Noverian rum, right?"

"Yeah. Developed a taste for it when I went to investigate Matriarch Benezia on Noveria."

"Ah, one of your more famous escapades. Tell me what happened."

"Well, it's a long story. Maybe, tell you the whole thing later? The short of it is this: I met the last Rachni Queen too, released her too. The Matriarch was indoctrinated, unfortunately. Liara had to help me kill her. I've never been good at the touchy-feely stuff, and I didn't want to make her shoot her mother. I knew she'd do it if it came down to it. That she'd die to protect us. But, I didn't want her to come. She insisted quite vehemently. Tali and Garrus supported her. Wrex even offered to let Liara go in his place, and that from a krogan, you know, a species that can never pass up a good fight. In the end, I gave in and switched to a four member squad instead of the usual three. Tali had to sit out. She didn't mind much. Come to think of it, I never did take Kaidan or Ashley out on missions much. Putting Ashley on the Normandy wasn't my choice. Anderson was to blame for that one. Kaidan was a skilled technician, and a reasonably gifted biotic, but unfortunately, not much use with a gun. Tali and Garrus far outstripped him in combat tech, and for biotics, Wrex, Liara and I had him beat. I took him out on the less critical missions, and he improved rapidly, to his credit. Ashley I left in-charge of maintaining equipment, and she did that well. Took her along even less than Kaidan. She was a commando through and through. Could handle any weapon, but negligible ability beyond that. Liara was a reasonable shot with a sidearm, but couldn't handle any other weapon. Her biotic abilities were rather advanced, though. They made up for it."

"Tell me more about your old team back from the old days. They sound fascinating."

Shepard considered Kasumi briefly. Then she flashed a smile. "You know, you're the first one on this crew who's asked me to relive that time of my life. I'm not complaining. I'd like to know why you are interested in that, though?"

Kasumi smiled back. "Just curious, Shep. I won't be offended if you aren't willing to share. If they're too painful or something. You've just recently woken up from a two-year long slumber. Things around you have changed drastically, and well, as smart, tough and adaptable as you are, it must be hard to come to terms with your situation. Just thought I'd try and provide an ear if you want it, and get to know something about the most famous human being in the galaxy. Making friends with you doesn't seem like something I'd regret, either."

Kasumi's concern and friendliness seemed genuine. Not forced and put-on like that irritating yeoman Cerberus had inserted at the CIC. What was her name again? Chambers? Shepard found herself warming to the mischievous little Japanese thief.

She produced a pack of her favorite cigarettes, the Omega Lights. She took one and offered it to Kasumi, who accepted. She lit Kasumi's and hers, and took a long drag before continuing. "Let's see. My team. Hmm… well, let's start with the humans on it. Ash never liked aliens much. Always found her a bit irritating, with her xenophobia. She wasn't as bad as Pressly. But, still, their sentiments are shared by the majority of the Alliance. Never really liked the Alliance life. The exploring space and meeting new races part was exciting. The rest of it was a drag. Especially mealtimes. Always a bunch of idiots talking loudly about how humans were superior to turians or salarians and whatnot. How humanity would get its place. If I wanted to listen to that kinda bull, I'd have switched on the radio to the Terra Firma party channel. Kaidan was different, though. Judged everyone on their merits, not on their species. Ash died to save us, to ensure we succeeded on Virmire. Soldier through and through. Kinda sad I owe her my life and all I can call her is irritating." Shepard gave a short, bitter laugh.

"How about the aliens? It was big news at the time, you know. Commander Shepard, first human Spectre, also the embodiment of the willingness of humanity to stand with the other races. They seemed like an interesting bunch."

Shepard paused to take a sip of her rum, and went on, "Liara was the bookish type. Curious to learn all the secrets of the galaxy. We found quite a few Prothean artifacts on our travels. She spent several happy hours finding out if they had any useful data. Otherwise, she chatted often with the rest of the crew. She and Dr. Chakwas grew close. They practically shared living quarters. There was this one time I left my music player at her room. She discovered my rock collection and started playing it. Sometime later, I went by to search for it, see if I'd left it there. And I could hear her singing along to one of my favorites. Dr. Chakwas looked rather amused. She said, "Looks like our scientist has discovered Liam Gallagher and Oasis. Her voice is rather good, you know." I stopped short. "You listen to Oasis too, Doctor?" Chakwas looked up at me and said, "On occasion, yes." I went in to her animatedly drumming to the sound of Wonderwall and singing out the lyrics. I tapped her shoulder. She was surprised, and a little embarrassed. "Discovered Oasis, have you?". "Yes, Shepard", she replied breathlessly. "Though I don't understand some of their lyrics. If I may, could I ask you what they mean?" When I nodded, she proceeded to ask me, "What kind of a supernova is a Champagne? In all my years of study, I have never heard of such a phenomenon." I burst out laughing. Oh my, Liara was a good friend. And, a bit more."

Kasumi could see Shepard's eyes glistening. A single teardrop fell from her left eye and coursed down her cheek. She didn't seem to notice it. She took a sip of her rum and went on.

"On to Garrus. He was a 'bad turian', as he liked to say. Never liked following rules. Believed justice had to be served, no matter the cost. I had similar principles, though I drew the line at hurting innocents. He was probably my best friend, a confidant, someone who understood me. Good shot with a sniper rifle, probably the best on the squad. Also, much more open minded than the other turians I'd met. Didn't seem to have that big of a stick up his ass."

Shepard laughed. By now, the tears were flowing freely. Kasumi quietly walked over to Shepard and sat down beside her. Shepard didn't notice. She seemed far away. She took another drag from her cigarette as she went on.

"Tali was on her Pilgrimage. Took a detour to help with Saren, ended up finding some valuable data on the Geth to take back to the Fleet and complete it. She was curious about everything. Damn talented engineer. Adams used to say she was probably better than him at troubleshooting problems with the drive core. That, coming from Adams, must have meant she was something special. She was a good friend, like a younger sister. Someone who needed to be guided, who was eager to learn. And, finally the big guy with the heart of gold. Wrex was aggressive, liked a good fight, but he was deeply saddened by the state of the krogan. He had tried to do something to help them out of the pit they'd dug for themselves. Got betrayed, and lost hope after that. Still seemed to think about it a lot, though. I heard he's back on Tuchanka now, trying to unite the clans. If anyone can do it, he can. More importantly, he'd be doing it for the right reasons. No race deserves what happened to the krogan. Slowly killing them off, not offering them a way out, a way to atone for their mistakes of the past. It's a sad state of affairs. Just one more thing that shows how screwed up this fucking galaxy is. And I'm sacrificing everything I am to save it. They say I'm a genius, but I act like a bleeding idiot. No wonder I died. And now, I'm working with a terrorist organization because they happen to be the only ones who take me seriously. Oh, and they just decided to rebuild me for good measure."

She had started sobbing openly by now. They were wracked with despair, with guilt, with sorrow, with loss, and several other emotions besides. Kasumi felt sorry for the woman next to her. The things she'd done, the horrors she'd experienced, any lesser being would have broken down long ago. But, Shepard didn't let it break her. She might have her moments of weakness, but the galaxy be damned if she didn't deserve them.

Kasumi leant over and hugged her. "There, there, Shep. It's all right."

Shepard continued sobbing for a while. Then, she wiped her face and looked over at Kasumi. "So much for being badass eh? Cynical, bitter and utterly vulnerable." She gave a derisive snort.

Kasumi gently punched Shepard's arm. "I would have been surprised if you weren't vulnerable. Might have started doubting you were not a robot and actually alive." Kasumi gave Shepard a wink. "Anyhow, you aren't alone, Shep. You never were, and looking at you, you never will be. You try to do what you can to take care of the crew, and you don't let anyone take care of you. You should change that, you know."

Shepard looked over at Kasumi questioningly. She shrugged. "I've talked to Grunt, to Jack, even to Mordin. Not so much Miranda and Jacob. I distrust Cerberus as much as you, especially Miranda. Grunt wants to find his purpose. The way he talks about you, almost like you're his mentor, or maybe mother? Jack talked about how you gave her full access to any files Cerberus had on her, how you talked Miranda down. Nobody's ever helped her like that before, no strings attached. You told her that you'd help her get to the nearest spaceport if she didn't want to join up. Tells me a lot about the way you work, Shep. Mordin was quite impressed with your help at Omega. Especially how you helped his assistant out. He appreciated that."

Kasumi stopped to drain her amazake. Shepard did the same with her own drink. The two sat in silence for a while.

Presently, Kasumi took a last drag from her cigarette, stubbed it on the ashtray and said, "You know, everyone you're picking up, they have scars of their own. That haunt them. Including me. Even Miranda and Jacob. I can make out. You shouldn't be worried that you're the only one with something they've lost. Or they feel regret for."

Shepard glanced over quizzically at Kasumi. "It's almost like I willingly surround myself with that sort, you know. And soon, we're going to be joined by a turian vigilante, a drell assassin. They should be interesting. Hope they decide to join."

"I look forward to meeting them, too. If you'll take me along, that is."

"That depends on the nature of the mission, I guess. I'm the only one who gets to go each time just because well, I'm me." She smirked at Kasumi.

Kasumi smirked back. "Just remember, Shep. I can come along if I want to. Optical cloak, remember."

Shepard suddenly became serious. "Kasumi, please don't do that, ever. What if we shoot you by mistake. Or, if we leave you behind? I'd never be able to live with myself after that."

"Why, Shep? Do you like me that much?"

"Irrelevant. You're my squad. No one gets left behind."

Kasumi was surprised by the intensity of the last statement, the conviction with which she said it. Must have stumbled onto one of her guiding principles. She considered it, then nodded.

"Just yanking your chain, Shep. I'd never do that sorta thing. I've worked alone most of my life, but I do know what it is to be a team player. To be honest, well, I don't really have much to do besides going around stealing stuff. I took this job for a token payment and the chance to work with you, and if you'd help me, a chance to gain some closure on something. Maybe, I'm trying to do something that matters too. To find meaning."

Shepard mused on Kasumi's revelation. "I'm helping you gain closure? Is that your scar?"

"You could say that. You're under no obligation to help, though."

"I want to, if you think I can."

"Thanks. Umm, maybe I'll tell you the details later. We need to go to Bekenstein. It's in a system that neighbors the Widow system the Citadel is on."

"It's nearby? Okay, whatsay we do it before popping around to Omega to get our turian vigilante? Like maybe, tomorrow? Or do you need to prep?"

Kasumi was a bit taken aback. Her preparations had almost been complete. Anticipating that Shepard would agree to help her, she'd taken the liberty of having most things ready.

"Just one thing. Er, I'll need your dress size. And we'll need to go to a clothes shop to get you an outfit."

Shepard suddenly looked alarmed. "This won't be one of those skimpy black dresses will it?"

Kasumi smiled evilly. "Why the alarm, Shep? It'd suit you. You're extremely attractive, could have been a model if you wanted, I'm sure. And, yes, it's a black cocktail dress."

Shepard's face fell, almost comically. Kasumi felt a tad sorry for her.

"Don't worry! It'll be fun. And, if everything goes right, you'll only need to wear it for about an hour. You can be back in your armor and shooting bad guys in no time."

She brightened up considerably at that. "So, there will be shooting?"

"I fancy there'll be quite a bit."

"That's good. How many of us going on this jaunt?"

"I want you all to myself, Shep. So, it's gonna be just the two of us." Kasumi winked.

"You sure? I'd feel better if we brought Grunt or Mordin for back-up."

"Yup, I'm sure."

Shepard didn't seem convinced, but she made no comment.

-0-

"Damn that gunship. Damn that Hock! Its shields regenerate!", swore Shepard. She gave Kasumi a wry smile. "Any ideas?"

Kasumi smiled back. "A few. But, I need to get close. When I see my chance, I'll take it."

Shepard nodded. At the very least, they had an almost unlimited supply of thermal clips lying around. They'd taken cover near a few crates. Mecifully, the Eclipse merc whom they'd displaced from that position (Shepard had shot him between his eyes with her newly acquired Locust. Kasumi had whistled in appreciation. Shepard had been rather pleased herself. The new Umbra Visor headpiece was working out nicely) had also been carrying an ammo box. The two women helped themselves to it whenever they ran low. Which was once every few minutes. They were picking off the mercs slowly, without too many risks. Shepard was using her biotic charges sparingly, and Kasumi was using her cloak-and-dagger thing only when she was absolutely sure. It was good Kasumi was almost as good a shot with a sidearm as Shepard. She hadn't used her shotgun for a while-not too many chances to get up close. Shepard swore slightly. The new Incisor sniper rifle she had brought along hadn't made her happy. She was going to have to have a chat with Jacob on what he thought a Viper felt like. She'd believed him when he said the feel of the Incisor was similar to a Viper. When she used it, she found that the damn thing fired in bursts, like a Vindicator. Shepard hated the Vindicator, preferring the Pulse Rifle for covering fire. Since then, she'd abandoned it. Which meant that she was stuck with an SMG-Pistol combination until further notice. She trusted Kasumi though. The thief was rather resourceful.

The mission had been unlike any other Shepard had been on before. She found that she rather enjoyed not having to answer or report to anyone in particular, not having to follow military protocol. The Cerberus crew referred to her as 'Commander', but she walked around in a hoodie and jeans. It was a civilian ship, and she had no intention of running it military. She could have, if she'd wanted. But she didn't. Taylor had been surprised. He seemed interested in her. Well, she was damned attractive, even with her glowy scars and eyes. Maybe, they even added to her attractiveness? But, she wasn't even remotely interested in him. He was just another soldier who believed in a greater cause. The same as all those idealistic meatheads who made it up the ranks in the Alliance. She was mildly surprised he hadn't followed that path. Ah well, not everyone got things to go their way. Reminded him of Kaidan, only a lot less accepting, more opinionated, and more human-centric. He'd had the balls to tell her he'd keep an eye on her, that he had issues with certain actions she'd taken. Must have been the suicide bomb thing. That got these Alliance types worked up. Or Torfan? Maybe he disapproved of Spectres and the fact that they weren't answerable to the law. Or the fact that she got on with aliens? She didn't know, and didn't particularly care. She wasn't going to take him on missions much either, not unless it was absolutely necessary. She hadn't been particularly impressed with him when she'd brought him along. He thought he was good, and he probably was. But, the rest of the crew wasn't just good. They were something more. He was distinctly average in comparison. Plus, she didn't like him.  
She liked Miranda, though. She was Cerberus, but well, she believed in what they were doing, believed in their ideals and ultimate goals. If she rejected consequentialism outright, she supposed she wouldn't have like Mordin either. Somehow, she respected Miranda for the conviction she had in her beliefs, for her confidence. And the fact that she'd resurrected her helped too.

The mission had been interesting. Shepard had to infiltrate a party with the who's who of the galaxy's criminals. Kasumi obviously thought that having been among similar company for so long, Shepard would be used to it, and therefore fit in nicely. She'd gone under the moniker, Alison Gunn. Kasumi recounted in loving detail all she'd done to build up the legend of Alison Gunn. Shepard made a mental note to ask her for the info later. The party had been a drag, though. Kasumi hadn't even let her try the food. Kept telling her they had to get her partner's 'graybox'- some sort of a neural implant that held memories and information encrypted in them, that could only be accessed by the memories? Shepard hadn't entirely understood it, but would have helped Kasumi get it anyway, since it seemed so important to her and she considered her a friend. Kasumi had also said that the information encrypted in it could be dangerous since it contained something that could give fodder for an Alliance-Batarian Hegemony war if it got in the wrong hands. Hock definitely fell into that category. But, still. It didn't hurt to eat some of the stuff laid out. She had forced her to wear the black dress, after all. Though, truth be told, it was a lot more comfortable than Shepard thought it would be, and the necklace was nice. Maybe she'd wear it more often. She made a mental note to ask Kasumi how much it'd cost, so she could pay her back. She also had her eye on some very inviting raspberry cheesecake. Shepard was a sucker for raspberry cheesecake. She wondered if she could sneak some away for later consumption.

Hock was an ass. Anyone could see that. A very paranoid ass. His vault had all the security it needed, and a lot more. Only a master thief could have infiltrated it. Fortunately, Kasumi was one. They'd nullified the barriers and obtained the password simple enough. His DNA sample had taken some work. The biggest drag had been getting a voice sample. The idiot obviously liked the sound of it. He gave her, and everyone around a five minute monologue about how important they were. And, she'd been forced to applaud him at the end of it. That disgusted her no end. Kasumi snidely commented on Shepard's ability to loosen Hock's tongue. Shepard had given her a look in return. Then, they'd broken into the vault; Shepard had changed out of her little black dress and into her armor. And, they'd walked right into Hock's trap. The Locust had been a brilliant find though. It far outstripped the puny SMG Cerberus had provided her. Shepard's lips curled in distaste at the memory of the weapon she'd biotically slammed and broken against the wall. Kasumi had also got her graybox, only to find out Hock had wanted her to find it, so she could decrypt it for him. Apparently, only she could. Course, he'd intended to do it by force. Eclipse mercs swarmed their position. Bad mistake. No one had realized yet that she was Shepard. Shepard felt a slight bit aggrieved at that. She had saved the galaxy after all, and let these fools continue their crooked ways. One would have thought they'd be a little more considerate.

Several corpses marked the path the hooded Japanese thief and the supposedly dead former Spectre took to get to the extraction point, a dock that overlooked the sea. Where Hock had been waiting with that bleeding gunship.

Shepard continued taking down the mercs as they came. It was slow, painful, repetitive work. And Hock and that damned gunship wasn't making her mood any better. There was a lull for a moment. The merc waves seemed to have stopped. Suddenly, Kasumi perked up. "I see my chance."

Shepard wondered what she meant. She could see the gunship out of the corner of her eyes. No use shooting at something that kept regenerating its defenses. A giant overloard would have helped, but Shepard didn't think omni-tools could output that kind of power. She certainly hoped Kasumi knew what she was doing. She then turned to watch Kasumi pull a series of crazy acrobatic stunts. She got on top of one of the pillars in the dock and jumped right on to the gunship. Shepard whistled in admiration. Kasumi mock-saluted Hock and did something on her omni-tool. The gunship overloaded itself. Shepard could sense no shields on her visor. And, it wasn't regenerating. She made a mental note to ask Kasumi about that move when she had the chance. Kasumi had cloaked, of course. No use pulling off a move like that and dying immediately after. Shepard fully expected her to appear at her side in due course. Till then, she started firing at the gun-ship. Moments later, she hear Kasumi firing at it too. It didn't take them long to whittle down its defenses. Shepard then threw a powerful warp field at the rotators. It succeeded in blasting the gunship, with Hock inside. His squadron of gunships hadn't helped. Not much use if you were dead. Still, Shepard supposed whoever inherited Hock's assets would find them handy. Maybe, she could appropriate control of it. She made another mental note-to ask EDI for help with that. The AI would know what to do.

Shepard and Kasumi made short work of the few stragglers around the dock, and set off toward the waiting shuttle.

The two women made their way back to the Normandy on the shuttle, Shepard driving this time. Shepard was a bad driver. Everyone thought so, except her. Kasumi had been contemplative when they started the drive back, lost in her own thoughts. Shepard's driving skills made that course of behavior rather impossible, though. She decided she'd rather drive, so they didn't die in unmarked graves at the bottom of the sea. "Er, Shep. You really suck at this, you know. Let me drive."

"No way. You drove on the way here. My turn now."

"Yes, Shep. I would have willingly given you your turn and continued reminiscing about Keiji. I can't be delicate about this, Shep. A drunken monkey would do a better job driving than you."

Shepard considered the insult briefly. Then, "Damn it, everyone says the same thing. Even on the old Normandy, my squad would have an unspoken agreement to talk me out of driving. They normally gave me gun duty. I liked gun duty, so I normally gave in. It started getting suspicious when Garrus and Wrex suggested it to me on our missions together too. Not just once. Each time. I mean, Garrus? Wrex? Those guys liked guns and explosions as much as I did." She looked at her screen. "Damn, off-direction again", and then proceeded to pull off a full speed right angled turn to her left. Kasumi was lucky she'd put on her seatbelt. Shepard continued to regale Kasumi with stories of her crew and their missions. Kasumi found them too interesting to press the issue of switching drivers. Shepard was good at telling stories. A rather bumpy ride later, they disembarked from the Normandy.

"You, know I drove the entire way back. And I got us here fine." Shepard smirked at Kasumi and went up the elevator.

Kasumi was stunned. Shepard had tricked her! Shaking her head and smiling, Kasumi went to her quarters in the Lounge and reflected on what they'd been through, rather, what she'd dragged Shepard through. Shepard was a good friend. Possibly the first real friend she'd had. Maybe she could make more of those, now that she'd basically settled down for a bit. She had always been friendly, outgoing, easy to like. Just never in a place long enough to make real friends. She looked at the graybox. She thought for a bit, then placed it on her desk. She was too tired to look at it. Besides, Shepard deserved to be there when they saw what it had.

-0-

Kasumi activated the graybox. It had been plugged into the holo-projector. The memories of Keiji washed over her. In the background, Keiji's voice played. That what he found was dangerous, and that she would be in danger if she kept it. Something about a black ops squad finding something in Batarian space. Kasumi didn't care. She only cared about the memories. She looked over at Shepard after a time. Shepard stared open-mouthed at the data. She'd respectfully ignored the more personal elements of what the graybox held. She'd probably guessed about her and Keiji, anyway. Kasumi hadn't been particularly subtle, and hell, Shepard's IQ was off the charts. Keiji had said that she needed to destroy it, to protect herself, and for him. She didn't know what to do. Shepard looked enquiringly at Kasumi. "What do you want to do?", she asked, quietly. "I just, I don't know….", said Kasumi. Shepard briefly considered, before saying, "Is there any way you can separate the data, so you get the memories but the data that was encrypted is destroyed? You won't be in danger then."

"No. They're tied. My memories, his memories and the data. And, he was damn good at encrypting."

Shepard looked conflicted, pained. "Damn. Kasumi, I don't know. It's your graybox. He obviously meant a lot to you…."

Kasumi decided then what she had to do. Leave the decision to Shepard. "Shep, I've decided. We do what you say. Its fate is what you decide."

Shepard thought for a while. Then, carefully, she said, "I know it's important to you. But, he'll always be with you, Kasumi. Keiji wanted it destroyed to protect you. And as much as it pains me, I agree. If Hock could find out about it and murder Keiji, no telling who might come after you. He wouldn't want you to die over it, especially since well, he already did. I wouldn't feel right if I told you to keep it. My advice is to destroy it."

Shepard looked troubled. Kasumi shrugged and put the graybox on the table.

They just stared at it for a while. Finally, Shepard broke the silence. "Kasumi, look, you want me to do it?"

Kasumi looked at Shepard gratefully. "Please! Just do it quickly."

Shepard nodded. Kasumi looked out the window at the stars beyond. Shepard did something in the background and walked up next to her. "Beautiful view, eh?", she commented.

Kasumi turned right and looked at the woman standing next to her. She had been through things that would have destroyed anyone, she had scars that could not be healed, and yet, she had cared enough to help a random stranger gain closure. Something told her that she'd have done it for any of her crew, and that she probably wasn't a special case, but that didn't stop her loving her for it. She put her hand on Elia's shoulder and turned her around. She pulled her face closer with her free hand. Elia stood about a head taller than her. She drew their lips together in a chaste kiss. She found Elia responding. The kiss was gentle, without heat. Elia gently drew away and stared at Kasumi.

Kasumi simply said, "Thank you."

-0-

Kasumi reflected on what had happened. She'd gotten Keiji's graybox back two years after his death, and had lost it less than a day after she'd retrieved it. She realized that it was the right choice. She could let Keiji go. And, concentrate on her life, and she chose to start by swearing her unfaltering loyalty to the woman who'd helped her gain closure. She'd follow her into hell, safe in the knowledge that she'd get her out. Probably…

She looked up at the stars, and said, "Keiji Okuda, I will always love you. But, I do think you were an ass for dying. I found something else to live for. Sayonara…"


	7. Into Hell and Back - Just Like Old Times

This is essentially a series of stories on my FemShep, Elia Albarn. Her background is one I took the liberty of thinking up on my own, and will be touched on as this series comes along.

This is about everybody's favorite turian.

Oh, and a piece of info: I imagine that Shepard would live about as long as an asari (perfectly valid assumption in my book, cause there's no mention of how long she'd live in normal course, after being resurrected. Again, if someone can point me to evidence that says otherwise, I'd be extremely grateful. But, that won't change how I see the issue, so there :P)

To my endless dismay, I don't own Mass Effect. My FemShep is mine, though.

Reviews, criticism and praise all much appreciated :)

-Saving Archangel (or 'Into hell and back-Just like old times!')-

Erash. Monteague. Mierin. Grundan Krul. Melanis. Ripper. Sensat. Vortash. Butler. Weaver. Sidonis.

There was a momentary lull. Garrus used to time to activate his omni-tool and burn Sidonis' name out. He'd betrayed them. He wanted to survive this, just so he could rip him apart himself. Atleast, the asari, Weaver, one of the biotics in the group, and Melanis, his salarian explosives expert were still alive. Barely. He walked over to the couch where he'd propped them up. They'd insisted on watching for intruders from the back. He administered some medi-gel to each one. They couldn't hold together much longer, unless they received proper care. Weaver had taken a rocket to her shoulder, Melanis had been bitten by two varren. Both smiled weakly at him as he examined them. Melanis said, "So, Archangel. Got any ideas?"

Archangel said, "Just one. Keep shooting. We got a lotta thermal clips."

Weaver remarked, "Wonder where you got your optimism."

"Well, when you've faced hell several times over, and survived you tend to believe you can get out of anything. Maybe arrogance. She isn't here this time, though. And, I'm no way near as good as her. I get the feeling no one will ever be. She lost just one the whole time. All of us were prepared to die for her. She didn't let us. She made sure everyone was safe and went and died on us. Some parts of her, I thought were stupid, contradictory to her intelligence. Maybe, that's what made her. None of us could forgive her. Or ourselves. Dropped everything I had. Too frustrating anyway. Spent three months mourning. Or maybe four. Wandering the galaxy, getting drunk, getting into brawls with random people. Lost all my money, but I didn't care. Nothing fucking mattered. I'd died, my body was just going through the motions. Then, ended up here. Don't know how. Saw a batarian extorting an old human couple. A Blue Suns merc. Shot him in the foot. He tried to hold the lady hostage. I shot him in the head. So much like that time on the Citadel. Then I realized that she'd have wanted me to do something about the injustice. She hated it, even more than I did. I started this."

Garrus realized he'd started rambling.

"You know, Archangel. You've told us about this woman a few times. What she meant, how she was the reason you became this. We've all heard your 'it's not about the man, but the principle' crap, and well, you actually believed it, so we let you be. Not like we didn't all have some way to rationalize what we were doing. But, what made her so great? For you to talk about her like some myth? Or Goddess? More importantly, who the hell was she?", asked Melanis.

"I guess it doesn't hurt to tell you now. It's a dead man's memory anyway. You ever heard of the first human Spectre. She stopped Saren and the geth, saved the Citadel and the Council."

"Yeah, Archangel, everyone knows the legend of Commander Shepard. Unless you're a senile hanar", said Weaver, impatiently.

"She had a turian on her crew."

"Yeah, I remember reading. Krogan bounty hunter called Urdnot Wrex, asari called T'Soni, daughter of that disgraced matriarch, I believe, a quarian, daughter of some admiral, and a turian, some kinda C-Sec detective. Let's see, his name was… Vakarian. Garrus Vakarian", said Melanis.

Garrus nodded. Understanding dawned on Weaver. "You're Garrus Vakarian?", she asked, astonished.

"No. Garrus Vakarian died more than two years ago. Like I said, the body hadn't caught up yet."

Melanis whistled. "The others woulda been so jealous." Then he stopped. Silence followed.

"You know what? I'm gonna survive this just to kill that bastard", said Weaver.

"Easier said than done, Weaver", said Garrus, with a wry smile.

"Er, Garrus. Is it okay if I call you that?", asked Melanis. Garrus shrugged. "Might be interested to know this. I heard something from Aria's men. Word is Shepard showed up here. She isn't dead. I didn't think much of it. I was with Weaver, restocking on some stuff, and the others were waiting for Sidonis and you to get back. Probably why we survived the initial attack. Don't know about whether it's true, but maybe she's looking for you?"

Garrus started laughing. Weaver and Melanis looked at him, puzzled. "Oh, I can just imagine it happening. She'd blast her way in here and say, 'Just like old times', with that smile of hers."

He grew serious. "Well, we better prepare for the next wave!"

"Go get em, Garrus!", said Weaver.

"And Garrus, know this. Everyone of us here, we felt like you'd given us purpose, something to live for again. You worked us hard, but we were making a difference. It sucks that Sidonis was a bastard, but you're not to blame. We regret nothing, and if we die here, just know, we did it willingly", said Melanis. Weaver nodded.

"You idiots, you're the only ones left to come take Sidonis down with me. Don't go talking like you're already dead", said Garrus. "But, it's been a goddamn honor."

"Likewise", said Melanis and Weaver at the same time.

An hour later, things weren't looking much better. Wave after wave. They never stopped. And now, many of those trying to make their way across the bridge were not part of the merc bands. Freelancers. Garm, Jaroth and Tarak must be really pissed. Garrus gave a bitter laugh.

Melanis and Weaver were still alive, somehow. But, they'd fallen asleep. He could hear their ragged breathing. That was when he decided to do it. Call his father. He set up the comm channel on his omni-tool.

"Hello, this is the Vakarian residence", said a feminine voice at the other end. Solana. Must have been home for the holidays or something. He hadn't counted on talking to her.

"Sol. Hey, it's G. Can you call dad."

"G. Seriously!? How you been? We thought you were dead or something." The joy in her voice was unmistakable.

Garrus chuckled. "Might soon be, at that. Can you call Dad?"

"What do you mean, G? And what's that noise?", asked Solana, concern in her voice.

"Not enough time Sol. Get Dad, now!"

"Not until you promise I'll see you again."

Garrus felt bad for lying to her. But, he reasoned that he considered himself dead already. A dead man's lie did not hurt. "I promise, Sol. Now just get Dad."

A few moments later, Garrus' father, Bastian Vakarian came on the line. "Garrus is that you?"

"Yup, Dad. Your prodigal disappointment of a son, here."

"Garrus, you never disappointed me. You may have done things I disapprove of, but you never disappointed."

Garrus gave a dry chuckle. "Wish you'd told me that sooner, Dad."

"You never gave me the chance. Where have you been? Haven't talked since you ran off with Shepard."

"Wait, you know about that?"

"Human Spectre, with an ex C-SEC on her crew. Turian. You think I'm stupid? I used to be one of the best detectives at C-SEC, Garrus."

"It's been two years since then, Dad. I went in for Spectre training after the mission", said Garrus.

"Yeah, heard about that too. Seems you left after she supposedly died."

"Supposedly? You're telling me she didn't?" Garrus' mind had gone into overdrive, at that comment from his father. He remembered Melanis' comment.

"Apparently not. The Executor was complaining the other day. He hoped she wouldn't cause any trouble. He seemed pleased she hadn't come along since she'd saved the Citadel and all. Asking after you. Nobody knew where you'd disappeared to. Speaking of which, I heard you were there with her at the time. You know, when she defeated Saren" Bastian sounded almost proud. His whole life, Garrus had tried to get his father's approval. Now that he'd finally gotten it, it was ironic that he didn't realize it. His mind whirled into a higher gear than overdrive at this point. His father had just confirmed what Melanis had said.

How could she be alive? Was it really her? Was he dead already and this was some sort of joke the Spirits were playing on him?

His mind was brought back to the present by his father's voice. "Hello… Hello, Garrus? Don't go all quiet on me now. And, what the hell's that noise."

"A moment, Dad."

Garrus sniped two more from his perch and returned to his omni-tool. "Sorry about that. Just some target practice."

"Then call me back later!"

"It may be a little too late for that. Too many targets."

"Oh…" Bastian understood.

"I just wanted you to know, Dad, that I'm thankful for everything you did, and for everything you tried to do. I realize I gave you too little credit, and didn't listen to you enough."

"Forget about that. These targets, they're moving fast."

"So far, not fast enough. But, they're getting faster."

"And your bullets."

"A large pile left. Though it could be larger."

"Then, listen to me. Work with what you got. Keep pulling the trigger until your finger breaks. As long as you have bullets and a working trigger finger, you are going to survive. You hear me."

"I'll try, Dad."

"Trying is not good enough. You're a Vakarian. Promise me you'll come back to Palaven when you can, and that we can work this out. We gotta lot to talk about, and I have a bottle of Palaven's finest saved up for when we do."

"Haha, Dad. Ah, damn! Just a moment."

Garrus scoped in, took out two mercs. Then his scope zoomed in on the insignia of one of the people coming across the bridge. It said 'N7'. He lifted his scope up.

It was her! It really was! More scars, wearing a different headpiece (looked like a pair of night-vision goggles). But it was her! She wore her hair differently, and had different companions (A human woman in weird hooded armor. A salarian- wait was that the crazy doctor from the slums? And a Krogan, not Wrex, though.) She made her way purposefully across the bridge, carrying two pistols (looked like Phalanxes from where he was sitting), picking off the mercs in front of her. She was helping him! Garrus just wanted to dance and sing.

He suddenly realized his father was still on the other end, waiting. "Listen, Dad. I'll come as soon as I can to Palaven. And I won't forgive you if you open the bottle without me."

His father sounded slightly confused. "Something happened?"

"The odds just got a lot better."

"Good to hear. Tell her hi for me, son. Bring her along with you if you want. I'll let you get back to it!"

His father cut the line. Garrus was mildly surprised. He was quite sure his father had guessed what had made the odds better. Still, it was puzzling. There was no time to muse on it now, though. He went back to sniping his other targets with a renewed vigor. Had to show her he was still the better shot, right?

-0-

After what seemed like an eternity, a voice behind him asked questioningly, "Archangel?"

He turned back. He had his helmet on. She obviously couldn't recognize him. She had one of her guns pointed at him. He held up a finger to indicate he needed a moment, and then sniped the target that'd had the misfortune of being in his scope. Then he got up. His legs felt weak. Using the rifle as a support he walked the two steps to the couch. He perched on top of it and removed his helmet. "Shepard", he said. "I thought you were dead."

Shepard threw up her hands in genuine delight, and said, "Garrus!"

Her voice was the same. The krogan, human and salarian all simultaneously stopped pointing their guns at him.

"You know him, Shep?"

"Yup. It's Garrus, from my original crew on the Normandy!", said Shepard excitedly.

"Ah. Heard Archangel turian. Also knew you had turian in squad before. Exceptional sniper, engineer. Also heard Archangel had similar attributes. Still, a decidedly welcome coincidence for you", said the salarian.

"If he's fought with Shepard before, he is my clan", said the krogan.

"But, what're you doing here, Garrus?", asked Shepard.

"Just keeping my skills sharp, Shepard."

"Good to see you staying in shape."

"Haha, figured you'd need me sooner or later. Can't be part of your team without being the best."

"Good point. You knew I was back?"

"No, not until Melanis told me the rumors, and my father confirmed it moments before I saw you coming across the bridge."

Shepard laughed. "Sounds like a story. I'd also be interested to know exactly how you got all three major merc bands pissed off enough to work together to take you out."

"It wasn't easy, Shepard. I really had to work at it."

"I can guess. Why Omega?"

"Criminals aren't that hard to find. Just need to point my gun and shoot."

Shepard sensed that Garrus had changed. He was still cocky, took every chance to insert a one-liner in, and he still had the same warmth, the same friendliness, that she had felt from their time on the Normandy. But, he had changed. He seemed sad under all that. But, this wasn't the time to dwell on that. She had to get him out alive. No way she was going to let her turian die on her now. She could ask him about everything later.

He seemed to read her mind. "Tell you what, we get out of this alive, and I'll tell you the entire story. In the meantime, do you have a medic?"

"Mordin is. We thought you might need some patching up." Her eye fell on the salarian and the asari sleeping on the couch. "They your friends?"

"Weaver and Melanis, both part of my group. Again, a long story. Can you do something for them?"

"Mordin's a great doctor. If anyone can keep em alive, it's him. Mordin, think you can pull it off?" She looked enquiringly at the salarian.

Mordin went over to Melanis first. "Wait, recognize him. It's Melanis. STG. Worked together a few times. Explosives expert. Heard Archangel had one. Sounded like his work. Guessed it might be him. Too busy in clinic. Couldn't verify. Varren bites. Hmm, touch and go. But he always was tough. Hope this helps." He used his omni-tool to administer something to Melanis and swished it over the place the varren had bitten him. Mordin went on, "Good. Responding. Should be up in a bit. Now onto other patient."

Shepard asked, "You know Melanis, Mordin?"

"Yes, yes. Can talk about it later. Merc bands attacking. Need to protect your friend. Inappropriate time. Need to concentrate. Asari. Bad injury. Shoulder. Hmm, can stop blood loss. Prevent infection. Internal bleeding. Hate to see that. Still, good vitals, considering. Have time. Need to get her proper help fast. For now, can do this." He did something with his omni-tool again, swishing it over Weaver's affected shoulder. "There. Will be out for forseeable future. Must move carefully. Medical care ASAP. Can go to clinic. Daniel quite capable. Can help me. Or Normandy. Chakwas quite capable also. Either one."

Mordin looked over at Shepard. Shepard looked at Garrus. "Well, you heard him. They'll survive for a bit, but we need to get out fast. Oh…"

Melanis had woken up, and used his elbows to sit up and look around. He looked a tad bit frightened, looking at all the well-armed newcomers, but relaxed when he spied Garrus at the far side of his couch. "I'm guessing these guys are helping us, seeing as you're still alive and no guns are being pointed?"

"Yup, Melanis. You apparently know the doctor." Mordin raised his arm in greeting. Melanis nodded.

"And this is Elia Albarn Shepard. I was just telling you about her."

"This is Shepard. Shepard! Oh my, you weren't joking, were you!" Melanis was practically squeaking. Seemed like a slight case of hero worship. Garrus permitted himself a wry smile.

Shepard walked up to him. "Yup, it's Shepard. Thanks for keeping Garrus alive all this time." She took his hand, and squeezed it.

Melanis was stunned. He just nodded. "Mmmm..my pleasss..ure ma'am", he stammered.

Shepard nodded. "Well, Garrus, haven't introduced you to my new team. This is Mordin, as you might have guessed. The krogan is Grunt, and the female in the hood is Kasumi."

"Nice to meet you, Garrus. Heard a great deal about you", said Kasumi.

"Shepard's clan is my clan. She only picks the strongest. I shall enjoy fighting with you, even though you are turian", said Grunt. And gave a little laugh. Atleast, that's what Garrus thought it was. The sound was rather scary.

"The pleasure's mine, Kasumi, Grunt", said Garrus, inclining his head at them in turn.

Shepard smiled. Then, turned to Garrus and said, "Down to business. Garrus, any ideas."

Garrus smiled and reloaded his rifle. This was exactly like old times. Well, Wrex wasn't here. Nor were Tali and Liara and Kaidan. But still.

"Well, the bridge has kept us safe so far. Funneling those witless idiots into scope. But, it's a two edged sword. We'll get slaughtered if we try to get across. So, I suggest we bunker down and take out as many as we can. Wait for a chance to bug out, and take it when it comes."

"Or, we could just wipe them out. When I signed up for the job to get to you, I talked to the leaders, Garm, Jaroth and Tarak. They planned to end you today, and they'll get personally involved if it comes to it. We could finish them here today, once and for all."

Garrus positively smiled. It felt weird. Like he hadn't done that it in a long time. "That sounds good too. Taking out a load of bad guys, against the odds. Just like old times."

"Eclipse was supposed to be up first, then the Blood Pack and the Blue Suns", said Shepard. "So, we take positions here and shoot anyone who tries to make it across?"

"Pretty much. I can do some pretty serious damage with this rifle." He smirked at Shepard. Shepard raised her eyebrows in mock-exasperation.

"There are four of you…."

"And me", piped in Melanis.

"You can't fight, Melanis. You're injured", said Garrus.

"I don't fight over-much anyway. I'm the explosives expert, remember. I could still whip something up."

Shepard walked up to him, thoughtful. "Hmm, you got anything I can use on the fly? Like setup and planned in advance?", asked Shepard.

"I'm an explosives expert. Any type of explosive", replied Melanis.

"Good, then if it won't strain you too much, can you make something that'll stick on to a surface and explode if you detonate it?"

"Like a sticky grenade?"

"Grenades are too obvious."

"Then a mine? Does that sound good?"

"Yup. Try to augment it with a something that causes snap-freezing. Or burns."

Melanis' brow furrowed. "Hmm, I could, yeah. Need some time, though."

"Just try and do as many as you can, and don't injure yourself. Mordin, keep an eye on the two of them, will you."

"Of course, Shepard. My patients. Would recommend Melanis not straining himself. But special situation. Can't avoid it. If he does anything hazardous, will sedate him immediately. May paralyze him first for good measure, though. Wouldn't want struggling", said Mordin, nodding.

Melanis looked slightly concerned at Mordin's completely unveiled threats.

Shepard laughed and said, "He's just looking out for you, Melanis. And, I happen to agree with him."

"Okay. Fine. Er, mind telling me why specifically cryo or incendiary augmentations?"

"The Blood Pack. Mainly vorcha and krogan. They regen. Make it easier for us if explosions damaged them and spewed stuff that made sure they couldn't regen too, right."

Understanding dawned on Melanis. "That is quite brilliant", he said.

Shepard smiled. Mordin commented, "Shepard's IQ off the charts. Genius by human standards. Actually, by any standards. Especially in matters of combat. Hear good ideas to improve efficiency of destruction from her all the time. Not surprising."

Garrus looked at Mordin. He seemed an extremely interesting sort.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Mordin", said Shepard, smiling.

Mordin nodded, slightly more vigorously this time.

"Okay, Shepard, back to the plan. Eclipse seem to be up first, like you said. I can see some scouts. Mechs and some troops. Here, take a look." He handed his rifle to Shepard.

"Hmm… more than scouts. More behind." She pulled the trigger. A mech fell back, its head missing. It blew up and destroyed another mech next to it. Damaged some of the surrounding mechs and troops too, according to Garrus' visor. "One less now", said Shepard, simply, handing back his rifle. "So it is."

"Well, as I said before, I'll stay here, and snipe away to glory. You, you do what you do best."

Shepard said, "Let's spill a little merc blood. Just like old times, eh, Garrus."

Garrus smiled. Shepard said, "Okay, patch in to comm channel Styx 622, we're on that frequency."

"Got it."

"Okay, Kasumi stay up here and help Garrus, overload those Eclipse bastards as much as possible. All of them use shields. A few flashbangs won't be unwelcome either. Stay on the cryo rounds."

"Got it, Shep", said Kasumi, taking a position near a window in the same room.

"Grunt, you're moving out with me. We'll hit 'em from mid-range downstairs, and put any who get through down."

Grunt made that laughing sound again, and said, "Sounds good, Shepard."

"You won't be able to charge much now though. Save it for later. Keep blood rage under control. If your armor goes down, you need to let it regen. Okay?"

Grunt's face fell a bit. Then he brightened and asked, almost hopefully, "Do I get to burn them up atleast?"

Shepard considered. "Freeze 'em and burn 'em at the same time. Not a bad idea at all. Never tried it, but worth a shot." She smiled indulgently at Grunt. "Yes, we can do that, Grunt."

Grunt brightened up considerably. He stomped his feet on the ground. To Garrus, it looked a lot like an exchange between a child and a parent. He caught Kasumi's eye and looked at her enquiringly. She just smiled and shook her head in response.

Shepard turned to Garrus. "Garrus, you have modded rounds?"

Garrus shook his head mournfully. "No, the specialist died not long ago."

"Ok. You're on cryo, like Kasumi. Okay with you?"

"No problem."

"Mordin. Just watch over Garrus' friends. Pull off a few rounds or incinerate them now and then if you feel like it."

"Of course, Shepard."

"Okay, we got our assignments. Stay safe. Let's go, Grunt."

And she went downstairs with the krogan. Garrus patched into the comm. "Shepard, a question."

"Go on."

"What's tiramisu?"

Kasumi answered before Shepard could. "Tiramisu is an Italian dessert. Has biscuits, cheese, coffee and egg yolks in it. Several layers. Kinda tasty, but I never liked it much."

Shepard said, "Yeah, sounds about right. Always seemd like glorified cheesecake to me. And coffee at that. Now, I'm a fan of coffee and cheesecake individually, not so much when they're together."

"Yeah, Shep only likes her cheesecakes with raspberries."

A pause. "Nice shot, Grunt."

"You noticed that time?"

"Course I did."

"Wait, Shepard likes raspberry cheesecake?", asked Garrus.

"Yeah. Anything wrong?", asked Shepard, slightly defensive.

"Not at all. Something that happened on the SR-1 just made a lot of sense", said Garrus.

"Hmm, something I should know about?"

"Nah, nothing important."

"Take your word for it."

A pause. They continued taking out wave after wave of Eclipse merc with precision and ease. None of them made it even halfway past the bridge.

"So, Shepard, how'd you drag Garrus along before?", asked Kasumi.

"Yes. Interesting question. Meant to ask you myself. Original mission to hunt Saren. Saren was turian. Garrus turian also. Reinforces belief that Shepard trusts the individual, not the species. Not normal for human, no offense. Would like to know why, if not prying too much", said Mordin, joining the conversation.

"Don't know how to answer that, honestly. Like Mordin implied, mild xenophobia is the norm in the Alliance. I hated it. Maybe why I didn't have any real friends. I grew up on a pirate ship, with a rag tag crew of mercs, saw many worlds. I was left to my own devices. Not many people know about my history, they covered it up. But, these last 2 years aren't the first time I was considered 'Killed In Action'. Mother was a bit of a hero in the Alliance. Too bad I didn't know her growing up. People thought I enlisted to follow in their footsteps. I didn't. I did it for my friends, but that's another story. So, I've come to value everyone for who they are." Shepard sounded thoughtful.

A pause. Three more Eclipse troops fell. Shepard went on, "As to how Garrus got dragged along, well, he forced me to drag him along. Back then, I didn't go around recruiting. Tali, Wrex, Liara and Garrus all insisted on coming along. Kaidan and Joker and Chakwas and the rest were posted on the ship. Ash was kept on by Anderson to replace Jenkins, I guess. Make up the numbers. I didn't feel like kicking her off. She wasn't too bad a gunnery officer, so I just let her stay onboard."

Another pause. Kasumi said, "Well, even without going through the trouble of searching for guys to bring along, you still managed a pretty impressive team. Damn!"

"That's Shepard for you. Stay around her too much and you'll be fully willing to risk your life on a daily basis. Possible cardiac arrest by letting her drive? Sure. Shoot down several hundred Geth to save a colony? Why not! Go in a ground vehicle through a prototype mass relay to save the Citadel? Absolutely!"

Everyone laughed. Including Mordin and Grunt, who hadn't really participated much in the conversation.

"Last one interesting. Heard about prototype mass relay on Ilos. Personal reminder to ask about it later. Warning in advance, Shepard", said Mordin.

"Acknowledged, Mordin. Funnily enough, I meant to discuss it with you myself sometime."

A pause, longer this time. The newest merc wave had a lot more specialists coming through-vanguards and engineers weren't the easiest to take down.

"Mordin, incineration blast on my 3 if possible", said Kasumi. "Acknowledged", said Mordin, before obliging. Screams could be heard, as Mordin's rather powerful blast burnt them to a crisp. He calmly went back to watching over his patients.

"Thanks a bunch", said Kasumi, before throwing in a flashbang to disorient the four mercs left standing on the bridge. Garrus sniped one. "Scratch one!", he exclaimed. A moment later, one more fell. "Make that two!", said Shepard. "And three", grunted Grunt.

The final merc, a vanguard, got up and braced for attack. Kasumi took her down with four bursts from her Locust. "And one for me!"

Jaroth appeared at the other end of the bridge. Shepard felt like she knew what was coming. She smiled inwardly. Jaroth and Eclipse were going to be very unpleasantly surprised.

A heavy mech appeared at the other end of the bridge. "Damn, he's sent out his heavy mech", said Garrus. "Stating the obvious there, Vakarian", said Shepard. "Though if it makes you feel better, that problem should take care of itself." She paused. "Just remember, whoever it kills get attributed to me. I hacked the bloody thing after all."

"Hey, I hacked the door", said Kasumi.

"Yeah, then you went and got engrossed in the shiny datapads lying around."

"I transferred most of the credits to your account. Only kept some for me", said Kasumi, a little defensively.

"I noticed."

"And not even a 'thank you'."

"Well, if I hadn't hacked the mech, there's a good chance we wouldn't have been able to use those credits."

Kasumi scoffed. "No way. We took out a gunship with a pair of sidearms each, Shep. Don't tell me a big old mech is giving you cold feet. Plus there are four of us this time."

"Yeah, but there weren't three armies of mercs to deal with. Just an over-staffed security detail."

"I disabled a gunship too, you know", said Garrus, conversationally.

"Yeah, and it was being repaired. It'll make an appearance too."

"I'm supposing you did something about that too", said Kasumi.

"The mechanic was working too hard. I made him take an enforced break."

The comm channel went silent for a time, apart from exclamations every now and then from the fighters.

Suddenly, a salarian came into view. Garrus' visor picked up a largely upgraded defense system, high shields, high armor. "Seems like someone important", said Shepard. Garrus scoped him out. "It's Jaroth", he said, voice betraying some choked up emotion.

"Heard you were acquainted. You killed his brother apparently", said Shepard.

"I did? When?", asked Garrus.

"Last week, he said."

"Hmm, so that guy was his brother!"

"One of the reasons he wants you dead."

"Looks like he's personally entering the fray, Shep," interjected Kasumi.

"Kasumi, Garrus, concentrate fire on him. Don't let him across. We'll take care of anyone else", said Shepard.

"Affirmative"

Jaroth found himself the centre of Garrus' and Kasumi's undivided attention. He didn't last long. He fell, halfway across the bridge. The other Eclipse mercs who'd accompanied him were quickly disposed off.

They waited for a minute. No one seemed to be trying to get across. Garrus spoke into his communicator, "Shepard, meet me upstairs. We need to prepare."

"On the way."

-0-

Well, they'd killed Garm. Like Garrus had said, the krogan leader of the Blood Pack on Omega had been a freak of nature. Regenerating at an unbelievable rate. Course, he made the mistake of picking on Grunt. Grunt had brought up the rear on their way up, dealing with the vorcha who accompanied Garm. Shepard had left him to it, and cloaked her way into cover in the room she'd found Garrus, the room where Garm had chased him down. Garm had turned his attention to Grunt, as he'd entered the room, and charged him. Big mistake. Nobody picked on her krogan and got away with it. So, she'd told Kasumi and Garrus to overload the bastard's barrier, and she'd charged him, pulled off three incendiary rounds from her Eviscerator on his face, reloaded her Eviscerator, cloaked, and pulled off another charge cloaked. Three more incendiary rounds to his face, a biotic punch, and Garm moved no more. Course, pulling that stunt off had left her out of breath. She sank to the ground to rest awhile. Two biotic charges in quick succession tended to do that to anyone's system, even one as augmented by synthetic and cybernetic implants as hers.

Grunt got up, walked up to her, and offered a hand. She accepted it and got on her feet. Garrus and Kasumi were still staring at her, stunned. Mordin was calmly checking over his two new patients. Garrus shook himself out of his state of shock. "Well, I knew you were insane, Shepard, but I thought you had some sanity left. Looks like almost dying took even that away."

"Yeah, you realize that patience isn't the greatest virtue when the bloody galaxy's in danger of being obliterated any second and they're too stupid to realize it", replied Shepard, drily.

"You seem to have picked up a few new moves."

"Yeah, Cerberus gave me some prototype biotic implants, they're far more advanced that the Alliance stuff. A normal human would probably fry if they tried using em."

"You're anything but normal", said Garrus, laughing.

"Yeah, even more so now. All the implants they put in. Before, I was easily the most powerful biotic in the Alliance, even with those L3 implants, and I never experience anything other than fatigue to using em. I was lucky. Lots of human biotics suffered worse than Alenko even with the L3s." Garrus recalled how Kaidan Alenko suffered migraines on a regular basis. He had felt sorry for the human-Wrex, Shepard and Liara far outstripped him as far as biotics went, in combat, he specialized only in sidearms, and that limited his usefulness in several situations and his tech abilities were just about comparable to Garrus. And, his headaches laid him low often. In the end, Shepard used him sparingly during their missions. She'd never really liked Williams much, so most times it'd been Shepard with two or three of the others-Tali, Wrex, Liara or himself.

Shepard went on, "Now, my biotics probably beats an asari commando for power. Course, I didn't receive the training they did, so my manipulation only extends to a few specific moves that suit my combat style." She shrugged.

"So, Shep, what now?"

"Yeah, Garrus. Blue Suns left."

Garrus considered for a moment. "Well, they have the biggest group, numbers-wise. But, nothing we haven't seen before. I suggest we…"

He was cut off by Tarak's voice booming over the loudspeakers of his gunship, "Archangel! You think you can screw with the Blue Suns!"

Garrus narrowly got out of way of Tarak's frenzied gunfire. The others took cover behind couches, cupboards, any solid structure. Shepard glanced around and realized that Mordin had foreseen such an event, and kept Melanis and Weaver out of harm's way. He put shields up around them using his omni-tool. Tarak's gunship dropped off a few waves of mercs, all of whom they took care of with ease. Then, it looked like he'd retreated. Garrus began to move to get a better angle. Suddenly, the gunship reappeared, and Tarak fired off two rockets. Garrus dodged one, but the other hit him squarely on the face. He fell. Tarak continued shooting at him. Shepard screamed "Garrus", in anguish, and summoned a big blue orb of energy. She threw it at the gunship's rotors, and followed it up with two missiles from her own launcher. The gunship exploded.

Shepard immediately rushed to Garrus' side. There was blue blood all around him. She willed him to be alive, to breathe. Kasumi and Grunt walked up as well. "He looks bad, Shep", said Kasumi, worriedly.

Suddenly, Garrus' chest heaved. He was alive. His blue eyes looked up at Shepard. "Garrus, we'll get you help. Mordin, we need to get him back to the ship. Come with me."

"Certainly, Shepard. But what of Melanis and Weaver? They are stable for now. Need to be taken to clinic soon."

"Kasumi, Grunt, you're on that one. Kasumi, you know the way. Mordin will give you directions in case you need em. Take them there and talk to Daniel."

"Yes. When you reach, ask him to call me", said Mordin.

"Leave it to us, Shep", said Kasumi.

Shepard setup a comm link with the ship, and said "EDI, I want you to have Dr. Chakwas on standby. Garrus needs medical attention."

"Understood, Shepard."

-0-

Garrus Vakarian awoke from his slumber. He sat up and looked around the room. He was groggy, similar to the state he put himself into the five months or so after Shepard disappeared, before he found purpose in Omega. A perpetual state of numbness, drowning sorrows in alcohol at any time of day, anything to make him forget the injustice, how powerless he had been, and the fact that the guiding light in his life, the one who'd finally given him a chance to do something that mattered, his mentor, was possibly dead. From the ashes had risen Archangel, and Archangel had died recently. But Garrus Vakarian was alive again. And Garrus Vakarian didn't feel too good. He looked around groggily. He felt a sharp, shooting pain at the right side of his face. There might have been pain elsewhere, but the pain there blotted everything else out.

"Ah, Garrus. You're up", said a familiar sounding voice. Human, feminine, rather motherly. Dr. Chakwas. He hadn't gone much to the med-bay at the Normandy, but a familiar voice was welcome. He looked around to put a face to the voice, and spotted her getting up from her chair and approaching him from across the room.

"Dr. Chakwas?"

"Good to see you remember. Welcome to the new Normandy, Garrus. Good to see a familiar face."

"Likewise, doctor. So, I'm on the Normandy and Shepard's alive."

"Yes, Shepard was rebuilt by Cerberus. She's working with them to stop the abductions on human colonies in the Terminus Systems. If reports are to be believed, over a million have already been taken."

"Cerberus?"

"Yes, Cerberus, incredible as it sounds. However, Shepard has been clear that she's only working with them because they're taking the threat seriously."

"I suppose she'll tell me all about it. Should be fun." Garrus paused. "Why are you here, though, doctor? As I recall, you were part of the Alliance."

"Ah, yes. I took an extended leave of absence." Dr. Chakwas paused. She went on, "Shepard commands loyalty from many people, Garrus, not just those who fight on the battlefield by her side. Her actions prevented our destruction two years ago. We risked everything to go after Saren on Ilos, and Shepard did not betray our trust. I haven't forgotten that, and I do not like how the Alliance and the Council have brushed off all her warnings. The Reapers are coming, Garrus, and we need Shepard then. She needs to believe there are people who do not doubt her, that she isn't alone in the fight. Joker is here on the Normandy as well. It is unfortunate more of the old crew didn't leave their posts, though. Shows what a fickle thing loyalty is." Dr. Chakwas sighed. "At any rate, she has you back as well, Garrus. She has a lot of doubts, a lot of pent-up frustration. Anyone who wakes up from a two year slumber to find everything she ever knew changed would react that way. Please do what you can to put her at ease."

"Understood, Doctor." He paused, and then went on. "I remember being pretty badly banged up. How long have I been out?"

"About two days. That reminds me, I promised to call Elia down as soon as you were up."

"Elia?"

"Shepard. You don't know her full name?"

"Ah yes. I recall. Elia Albarn Shepard."

"That's it. Most people tend to forget her given name. More than half the galaxy knows the legend of Shepard. It feels almost wrong to address her as anything else."

"I know the feeling", Garrus said, laughing. He immediately regretted that.

Dr. Chakwas saw Garrus wince after laughing. "Ah, I must warn you, your face was….not in a pretty state when you came in. We used cybernetics to put it together. It needs some time to completely heal, so I'd suggest you exercise caution."

"Yes, Doctor, I think I'll do that."

"There are also pain meds on your side table. Take them if the need arises. Shepard will be here shortly."

So saying, she walked out of the med-bay. Moments later, Shepard came in, dressed in a hoodie and slacks. "Ah, good to see you up, Garrus."

"I'm surprised. You show up at the oddest times. Not complaining, though."

"Well, I asked around for you. Nobody knew where the hell you were. I was equally surprised you were Archangel."

"Yeah…. By the way, how bad do I look? I forgot the ask the doctor."

Shepard considered him. "Hell, you were always ugly, Garrus. Slap some face paint on, and no one will know the difference."

Garrus laughed, then regretted it again. "Ah damn, I gotta stop doing that. Apparently, my face is barely holding together as it is."

"Yeah, using it to block rockets isn't the best way to take care of it."

"Only to make sure it didn't hurt you."

"I appreciate the thought. Though, I'd have deflected it. Biotics, you know."

"I'll keep that it in mind the next time rockets come at me."

"Just looking out for ya, mate."

Garrus then became serious. "Shepard, you sure about this, though? Cerberus? Really? Remember those sick experiments they were doing?"

"Yeah, I know. I don't trust them, but well, they spent good money bringing me back, building this ship. They seem to be serious about stopping the abductions. I'm sure the Illusive Man has some sort of hidden agenda. As long as our interests intersect, I'll work with him." She laughed-a bitter, cynical laugh.

"Not like the Alliance or the Council takes anything I said seriously anyway. Everything I ever dug up, swept under the rug as soon as I disappear. Figures, I guess. People cling to what's familiar; want to believe the galaxy is safe, that it will always be safe. No need to cause mass hysteria over the allegations of a rogue Spectre and her motley crew."

"That was one reason I came to Omega, Shepard. Too much bloody politicking. I thought Spectre training would be different, but there's politics there too. Too much procedure, red tape."

"I guess I gotta be grateful to Hackett and Anderson. They gave me extremely high levels of operational freedom. The Council, Nihlus, they'd had their eye on me since I passed the N7 program. After the Blitz and Torfan, they took notice. Still dragged their feet over it. Spectres don't normally come from non-council races."

"Yeah, you're a trailblazer, all right." They sat together in silence, as they often did on the old Normandy. Just enjoying the quiet, each other's company. They'd been extremely close on the old Normandy. Oftentimes, they'd fight over new mods or guns like a pair of siblings. Shepard won most fights, of course-she was the one paying for them. Which was fitting, considering that Shepard probably filled the older sister part of the dynamic. Come to think of it, she'd been close to all of them, Wrex, Tali, Liara (much more than just 'close' to Liara). She hadn't gotten along too well with Ashley. With Kaidan, it had been a little weird. He was obviously infatuated with her, but her direct approach to solving problems, which often involved violence, did not sit particularly well with him. Shepard always tended to the dark side in situations that weren't entirely black and white. She used intimidation where persuasion might have worked. She had exceptional persuasion skills, but seemed to prefer the other route as a matter of course. She was an enigma, one that few truly understood.

Garrus then turned serious. "Shepard, I guess you have a mission to do and you need a good squad. You came to recruit Archangel. You needn't ask if I want to come. I'd follow you anywhere."

Shepard smiled. "I was working my way around to it. Didn't know how to bring it up. But, since you've solved that problem, I'd like to officially welcome you to the team. Rest up, I'll brief you tomorrow." She stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Yes, I'll get Jacob to attend. Struck me as bit of a xenophobe. Put him in his place. See you then!"

Garrus nodded.

-0-

Jacob Taylor briefed the scarred turian on their mission. He was part of their crew, their team, but he had deep misgivings that Shepard's personal attachment to this man had blinded her to the obvious risk that his injuries would prove him a liability rather than an asset. It was Shepard's team, but it was his ass on the line. He meant to make his reservations known.

Shepard entered. "Jacob, I assumed you've briefed Garrus?"

Garrus and Jacob nodded.

"Good, I'm sorry I didn't do it myself, Garrus. Dr. Chakwas was being a little fussy about a gash on my arm. So, any questions?"

"Where do I put my things?", he asked.

"Hmm, you can be the gunnery officer. When you're not on missions with the ground team, the ship's guns will be under your charge, as will the maintenance of the Kodiak and the Hammerhead. Similar to what you ended up doing on the original Normandy. Will that be acceptable?"

"Of course."

"Good. Then set up in the Main Battery. I got your stuff from that apartment on Omega; it'll be delivered to your room shortly. Also, we can dock and check up on Melanis and Weaver, if you'd like."

"I'll just get set up and then, I'd appreciate the chance to see them."

"That'll do splendidly. I had some business with Aria too. I can finish that up."

Jacob cleared his throat.

"Yes, Jacob. Anything to add?"

Jacob chose his words with care. "I would like to raise the issue of Vakarian's suitability as a crew member on the ship. Despite his history, his activities on Omega were questionable. He sustained heavy injuries on top of that. I don't believe you should let the fact that he served with you before blind you to the possibility that he might be a liability."

Shepard folded her hands. "Your concerns are noted, Taylor. Now, let me make this perfectly clear. I am working with the Illusive Man and Cerberus only because our goals coincide at this point. That means I have had to accept Operative Lawson and you on my crew without my opinion being asked. The other individuals I'm recruiting are filtered by the Illusive Man and compiled in the dossiers he sends me. These dossiers provide information on only the very best. All that was known of Archangel were his actions on Omega. What he did was something I would have done myself in that position. Before he was Archangel, Garrus Vakarian was an important member of the squad that brought down Saren Arterius. I'm sure you've read the files. Even before that, he had several notable cases to his name as a C-SEC detective. I believe his achievements justify his position in this crew. In addition, he has my implicit trust, something you have not earned yet. So, the next time you tell me what you believe I should or should not do, please remember your position. Are we clear?"

"Perfectly", said Taylor. He hadn't been expecting an outburst as caustic as this. Some of Shepard's insinuations riled him, but he could not argue with what she said.

"Now, Garrus, get ready to go in an hour. Oh, and what's your opinion on the Widow Anti-Mat rifle?"

Garrus' eyes gleamed. "The M-98 Widow Anti-Material Rifle? Shepard, that's like that HMWSR you got for me before."

"So, you think you could use it."

"Shepard, that rifle is a beast. I'd give anything to get it."

"Good. Jacob, place a requisition order on an M-98 Widow rifle. Let Garrus know when it gets here."

This was too much. An M-98 cost upwards of a million credits. No way Jacob was going to accept this without question. "Ma'am, an M-98 costs a lot. Is the investment wise?"

Taylor's attitude was beginning to piss Shepard off. He hadn't made a sound about Massani's suitability for the mission. The fact that his mental state and motivations were highly questionable hadn't occurred to Taylor. What a goddamn prick!

"Cerberus doesn't need to pay for it, Taylor. I have significant personal resources. Forward the bill to me."

Jacob was stunned. He managed to nod weakly.

"Anything else?"

When there was no response, Shepard said, "Dismissed. EDI, ask Kasumi and Miranda to be ready. Might as well be careful around Omega now that we decimated their gangs. We're going to be checking on Garrus' surviving teammates and picking Mordin back up from the clinic."

"Understood, Shepard."

-0-

Weaver and Melanis seemed to be healing splendidly. "Garrus", they both said excitedly when they saw him approaching their bed.

"Weaver, Melanis. Seems like Shepard wasn't exaggerating about Mordin. How are you two?"

"We're good, Garrus. Goddess, feels so weird knowing that I was working with the turian who was with Commander Shepard. Why didn't you ever tell us?", asked Weaver, trace of annoyance in her voice.

"Well, didn't think it mattered."

"Yeah, I guess. Anyway, heard that the merc bands were severely weakened after the fight. Jaroth, Garm and Tarak all dead. I'm supposing you had something to do with that."

"Well, a little. Mostly down to Shepard and her squad."

"I saw her in action. She charged Garm and incinerated his face with a shotgun blast", said Melanis.

"Whoa! That's insane. I remember that the dude had some crazy regen ability", said Weaver, genuine impressed.

"That isn't the half of it. I took a rocket to my face, courtesy Tarak's gunship, and she took it out with a missile and a biotic blast."

"That probably explains the bandage."

"Yeah. It's healing well, though."

"So, Garrus, if we may ask. What's next for us? For you?", said Melanis.

"Look, we were largely successful in what we set out to do. But, the cost was too fucking great. Nothing can bring any of the others back, and Sidonis is still out there. I need to make sure that coward pays."

Melanis and Weaver nodded.

"You guys can take all the money we made. I don't need it, and you could put it to better use. I'm going with Shepard on a mission, and well, if Shepard's involved, you know it has to be something big. All I can say is that was an honor to work with you two. I hope we can work together again someday, but now, I need to go. I really am sorry."

"No apologies required. You gave us a chance to do good, to make a difference, Garrus. For that, you have our gratitude. And, we're sure that you'll make Sidonis pay for what he did. It was a pleasure serving with you, Archangel", said Weaver.

"So, where do you go from here?"

"We'll stay on Omega, try to help the clinic however we can. Mordin suggested it actually. Keep the mercs off the doc's back. Improve the supply chains. Try to get help to as many as possible", said Melanis.

"No retirement?"

"Never", said Melanis, emphatically.

"Not while there's still stuff we can do to help. You've turned us into regular scouts, Archangel", added Weaver.

"Glad to hear it."

"Well, I've gotta get back with Mordin. Shepard sends apologies that she couldn't come to visit this time, but the next time we're in Omega, she promised you guys drinks at Afterlife."

"Of course. Let us know when!", said Weaver.

"Later, guys. See you when I see you", said Garrus.

Garrus spotted Mordin near the exit, and the two made their way out of Omega's slums.


End file.
